Black and White Roses
by StarPhire27
Summary: Kat and her crew take on a new heist, but this time they have some complications. A team with the calling card of a black and a white rose. Rated T for safety and because I'm paranoid. COMPLETED.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is my first fanfic. Reviews would be appreciated as well as constructive criticism, but please no flames. **Disclaimer:** All characters from Heist Society belong to Ally Carter and are not mine. The only thing that's mine is the plot and any unrecognizable characters.

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><p>Kat POV<p>

Imagine going to a museum and watching every little movement the people and the workers in the museum make. Noticing where every camera in the museum is located and hacking into the museum's security system and breaking in; in the middle of the night. Simple enough for a professional, right? Wrong. Somehow things never go as planned. It was supposed to be the con of the century. No one has ever gone in and out of the museum without getting caught stealing a priceless painting. Many were close, but none ever made it to the door. So what better place to steal from?

The timing was perfect to hit this place. The museum's security system was getting an upgrade so it had to be closed early. The security technicians weren't supposed to show up till later in the night. Between the times the museum closes and the technicians' arrival the security system would be in the shut down process. Slowly cameras inside the museum shut down and only the ones outside would remain on as a precaution. Simple solution, go in as technicians who thought where scheduled to get there early and disable the remaining camera. Create blinds spot if need be and disable the alarms. Go in for the steal and then get out just as the real technician crew arrives.

Simple right? I sure thought so. But I'm getting ahead of myself. How about I start just before my team and I got to the museum. My team and I were all sitting in the living room of Hale's place. His parents weren't home as usual, so they left him home alone with Marcus, his butler. I wasn't surprised since Hale's parents never seem to be home. Oh, did I forget to mention that I'm 15? No? We'll I am and so is most of my crew. My name is Katrina Bishop, but everyone calls me Kat and I'm a thief.

I had chosen to leave the family business behind to live the so called normal life of a teenager, but under crucial circumstances I had to return in order to clear my father's name. Now I only steal for a "good" reason and not just pure impulse, like before. And even though this high end museum was an easy and very tempting pick there was a different reason why I had picked this place…Romani.

I had received a note on the front door of my Uncle Eddie's home. It was on the famous white card with Romani's name and the name of six paintings. Which just happened to be on display at the museum, and this was how I chose our next heist. Romani has become sort of a guide that leads me and my crew to paintings that have been wrongfully stolen. Sounds rather ironic I know. Except I steal to give back these painting to the rightful owner.

We had spent two weeks planning for this heist and it all seemed flawless; however, when we were discussing some last minute details of the case, my cousin Gabrielle said that our plan was going to fail.

"You're crazy to think this plan won't work Gabrielle." I said to my cousin. "Come on. It's practically full proof and it's like it was handed right to us."

She frowned and filed her nails. "That's my point. It's too good to be true" she took a sip from her bottled water and the continued. "Seriously I don't think this will work out Kat."

I wanted to glare at Gabrielle but as much as I wanted to I couldn't let that show. And Gabrielle just filed her nails with extreme calmness. So here I was trying to come up with some kind of response when Hale spoke up. "We know it's risky and it might seem like it's too good to be true, but we've put so much effort into planning this that we can't back down now." I smiled, but Gabrielle looked un-phased. The rest of the team seemed to agree with Hale since they were all nodding their heads. Gabrielle just sighed in realization that she wasn't going to win and finally agreed.

"Alright, but we have to be careful." Gabrielle gave everybody a stern look and everybody just nodded with an 'uh hu' and a frightened expression. Gabrielle normally doesn't get like this. She's more laid back and rather girly. So I've never seen her look worried about something we've done before. Even with the Henley incident, she wasn't this worried. Maybe she might be right; this job might be too good to be true, but don't tell her I said that.

"Good. Now we have to get going before we miss our window of opportunity." said Hale. I finally snapped out of my speechless trance and took charge once again.

"Alright, you guys all know your part?"

Gabrielle smiled at me and grumbled, "I make sure you, Hale, Simon and Angus get the paintings out of the museum without the guards noticing."

"Yea, you're the distraction Gabrielle." Said Hamish in a teasing tone. Gabrielle and Hamish were sitting right next to each other so what came next was obvious, Gabrielle shoved Hamish off his chair. I rolled my eyes and Angus laughed. Simon and Hale looked like they were going to laugh as well, boys...they're all the same. Gabrielle didn't look like she cared about Hamish on the floor or whether the rest of the guys were laughing at him. She sat on her chair filing her nails.

"Alex, what about you?" Hale asked, I hadn't noticed Alex, he was rather quiet during the entire meeting. I kind of forgot he was there. I looked back at Alex; he was leaning against the wall with one foot up on the wall. He was wearing all black, like all of us where, well except for Gabrielle. She was dressed up for distraction not camouflage. The only difference from the rest of us was that Alex was wearing a black leather jacket. He looked up at me and gave me a bad boy smile.

"Sniper" was all he said and I nodded. Alex is our surveillance outside the building. He's our new edition to the team and this was his first big part on the job. Alex had done a few small parts with us before, but this is nothing like what we had let him in on before. So, Alex was our surveillance or so like Angus and Hamish happily named it "Sniper" because 'that's what snipers do' according to the Bagshaw brothers. Anyways, speaking of the Bagshaw brothers, Hamish was just barely getting off the floor and on to his chair.

"Hamish, what about you?" Hale asked.

"Hu? Wha?"Hamish said as he rubbed his butt. He must have fallen hard or he was just over reacting. Hale just sighed but asked him again.

"What's your job?"Hamish sat down and moved his chair away from Gabrielle's hitting and shoving distance.

"Get-away car"

"Simon?" I asked as I looked over at Simon and smiled.

He smiled back at me. "Hacker" I nodded and then looked at everyone in the room and thought that this plan was full proof. Simon is a genius when it comes to hacking into security systems, so there was no way this could possible fail. I looked at the clock on the wall that was right behind Alex. I got up.

"Alright everyone its time; let's go to the museum." We all got up and headed to the van that was parked outside. Once inside the van, Angus, Hale, Simon and I put jumpsuits over our black outfits. The jumpsuits had the technician company's logo on it. Hamish was the driver, though it might not have been the best idea, but we had to work with who we had. So Hamish pulled up to the back of the museum to the security building. Now this is where things started to get complicated. Alex and Gabrielle had left in another car to get into position by the time we arrived, but they weren't there. Simon stalled for us while the rest of us got into the building and started disabling the remaining cameras and the alarms. I was starting to think that Gabrielle was right.

"Simon, you disable the alarms and remaining cameras yet?"

"Relax Kat, give me two more minutes and I'll have total control of the museum." He gave me a reassuring smile and kept working on hacking. I walked over to Hale and grabbed his hand and I made sure that Simon didn't see me. The team didn't know about my… romantic relationship with Hale. And I think it's much better that they don't know about it. I would never get Hamish and Angus to shut up about it.

"You think we can pull this off?" He looked at me a bit confused.

"What are you talking about Kitty Kat; you're one of the best I know. Of course we can pull this off." He gripped my hand and then said, "Go check on Angus. We need a sniper view and Gabrielle to be ready for when we get out of here." I walked down the hall to look for Angus but I couldn't seem to find him. So I tried to contact him with the ear piece he was wearing.

"Angus, where you at? Are the Sniper and Distraction in position?" there was a moment of silence and I was starting to get worried. So I tried again. "Angus. Are the Sniper and Distraction in position?" I walked back down the hall to where Hale and Simon were and there was still no answer. I was about to ask again when Angus finally answered.

"Sniper and Distraction are in position."

"Good to know you're still there. Now meet me in the security room."

"Can't." I was walking to the security room but I froze in place when I heard him say that.

"Why not?" But there was no answer. I walked to the security room before I asked again. "Angus?" I looked up at Simon and Hale a bit freaked out as I got to the security room. There was no answer. "Angus this isn't funny answer me." I motioned for Hale to go and get what we came for. He nodded and went off without me. I headed off in a different direction to get the painting I was assigned to. "Angus I'm going to my position. You better be doing your part. Count down starts now." I walked to the Impressionist room and grabbed the two paintings that I had come for. I replaced them with counter-fit replicas. The museum curators won't know the difference.

I walk to the rendezvous point and waited for Hale and Angus to get there. Hale got there first, and he came back with two paintings. I looked at him slightly confused. Hale was only supposed to get two paintings from the romantic era and comeback with Angus to the rendezvous point, but Angus wasn't here. "Where is Angus?" He looked a bit confused himself.

"Um, I don't know. I thought he was with you." I almost yelled but I sighed instead. We needed all six painting and only had four.

"He's not with me. We split up remember?"

"He probably got distracted. He'll be here." Hale gave a smirk and I sighed.

"Alright, we'll stick to the plan." I told Hale then I contacted Gabrielle. "You ready to be our distraction?" There was a moment of silence but then Gabrielle answered.

"One lost blond coming up" I just smiled. Gabrielle peppy mood kept me looking to the bright side. _Maybe this job might not turn out as bad as my cousin made it seem_. Oh boy was I wrong. The next thing that happen almost made me scream, but again I'm getting ahead of myself.

I grabbed the other two paintings that Hale had placed in the paint canisters and carried the four painting off to the back entrance of the museum and waited for Hamish to pull up. As soon as the van came up Hamish shot me a smile and said, "Hamish painting pick up at your service." I shook my head and opened the door to the van. I set the paintings inside the van and then walked over to Hamish who was in the driver's seat.

"Wait here, I'm going to go get the rest of the paintings. **Don't **go anywhere." And with that I vanished into the building. I mean literally vanished into the building. One moment I was outside talking to Hamish and the next I was inside the museum. I looked around shocked at this new discovery. I would have freaked out if I wasn't too busy trying to get out of the museum with two other priceless paintings. So I shook it off and walked over to the rendezvous point and saw Hale there waiting for me. "Hey." He turned around quickly.

"Oh, it's you. Where did you come from?" He tilted his head and I shrugged.

"Long story; you found Angus yet?" Hale shook his head.

"No I haven't. He was supposed to be in the Modern Masterpieces room, but when I got there he was gone." I sighed and looked at Hale. "I'm sure we'll find him soon enough." He smiled at me reassuringly.

"Alright, you got the other paintings?"

"No, they're missing. They're gone." I blinked and took a moment to think this out.

"Missing? But no one was in here except for us. How could the paintings be possibly gone?" Hale shrugged and grabbed my hand.

"Come Kitty Kat you have to see what I mean." Hale led me to the Modern Masterpiece room of the museum and when we got there all I saw was an empty room. I mean completely empty. The only thing that was left behind besides the display cases were a black rose and a white rose on an empty display. I stood there dumbfound at this empty room.

"How could this have happened? Who could have possible gone in without Simon noticing? And how could they go off with so many paintings?" I walked over to the roses on the display. There was nothing out of the ordinary with the roses they were real and pretty. The only thing that was strange was that one was black and that they were **inside **the display case. I looked back at Hale and who was standing right next to me. "Hale these roses are fresh and **in** the display case." He looked at me all cool, calm and collected like he'd seen this a thousand times.

"Perhaps we have some competition." He smirked and grabbed my hand. "Let's go Kitty Kat before our time runs out." Hale and I walked over to the security room and met Simon there who was still monitoring the security cameras.

"Hey Simon, you didn't notice anything strange in the Modern Masterpieces room?" Simon looked up at us from his computer, by then Hale had let go of my hand.

"No, the room was fine." Simon said; I blinked.

"Can you show me a current view of the room?"

"Sure thing Kat." Simon searched his computer for the Modern Masterpieces room camera view. When he found it his eyes grew wide; he was speechless.

"What is it Simon?" I asked, though I already knew since I had just come from the room.

"The room has been whipped clean. But I've been keeping an eye on this room and there was no one in there, not even Angus." He typed on his computer, probably trying to figure out why it didn't show up before. I looked at Hale and then Back at Simon.

"Simon we have to go before we run out of time."

"But what about Angus, did you find him?"

"No." And just as I was going to ask Simon to look for him on the surveillance cameras Angus came into the room. His hair was messy like he just woke up from a nap. Angus had a black ascot on, but I don't ever recall Angus having that kind of style. That's when I realized it was **not** an ascot.

"Where have you been Angus?" Said Hale with a frown. "We have to get out of here; the technicians are due to arrive soon." I walked over to Angus and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hale is right, you can explain everything later and by the look of that thing around your neck you have a lot to say." Angus just nodded he looked sleepy and a bit disoriented. His silence was worrying me. Angus is not the quiet type. I looked back at Simon. "You ready to go?" He nodded and picked up his equipment which he had apparently already packed away.

"Alright then" Hale said, "We need to get out of here pronto." We all headed out towards the back exit where the van was supposed to be. And lucky for us it was still there, but we were still missing two paintings. We got to the van and Hamish was asleep in the driver seat. I tapped the window to wake him up. Hamish jumped up from the seat and nearly hit the ceiling of the van.

"Good, you're awake. Open the doors." I told Hamish and he did just that. We all got in and we were all silent. I took the back seat with Angus and let Hale sit up front with Hamish. I called Alex on the head piece. "Alex we all clear?" There was some silence before Alex answered me.

"You're all clear Katrina." There was a pause. "I even have your cousin right here and ready to go. I suggest you take your leave now before the guard goes to the back entrance."

"Okay, thanks Alex." I looked at Hamish. "You heard him, let's go."

Hamish started the car and drove off. He looked sleepy, much like Angus did. I wonder what happened to these two. The car ride back to Hale's place was silent. No one spoke. The paintings in the back even seemed a bit expressionless. Something was off and I was going to have to figure this all out once we were inside Hale's mansion.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Sorry for taking so long to update. I had a five page essay on feudalism due and well it was Easter so that kept me from writing. :( I Hope you enjoy the second chapter of my story. Please review; tell me what you think. No flames please.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the calling card of the mystery thieves. The plot is mine and the calling card is too so if you want to use it please ask. Enjoy ^-^

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Kat POV<strong>

Hamish drove up to the mansion and gave a yawn. "Here we are, chez Hale." I nodded and Hale got out of the van. Angus sat in his seat for a bit before taking his seatbelt off. He seemed rather disoriented; lost in thought. I couldn't help but wonder why Angus looked so…lost. He still had that black thing around his neck. I sat there staring at Angus as he got out of the van. I heard that back doors of the van open up. I turned to see who had opened the back door and it was Marcus.

"Oh, hello Marcus." I greeted him with a smile and he didn't smile back. Not surprising; I didn't expect him to smile back at me, but I was looking for some kind of happy mood. Marcus just nodded at me and said "Hello miss."

"Are you ever going to call me Kat?"

"Not this time miss." He grabbed the canisters that contained the paintings from the back and closed the van doors. I took my seatbelt off and got out of the van. The only people still outside were me and Marcus. I closed the van door and walked to the mansion's front door; Marcus was at the door holding open for me. I walked up to the door and smiled at Marcus as I walked in. He came in behind me and closed the door. I walked to the main room, where we always go after a heist. And everyone was there; sitting and talking, well most of them anyways. Hamish and Angus were off to the side rather quiet. Normally they'd be talking about some smoke bomb that they built, but they didn't say a single word and I found that strange. Hale and Simon were talking and Gabrielle was flirting with Alex. I could tell by the way she flipped her hair and smiled at Alex when she talked to him. I stood in the door way looking at everyone, something felt off.

Marcus walked in and set the canisters on the table and excused himself out of the room. Hale looked up at me and smirked. "Are you going to stand there all night Kitty Kat?"

I gave no expression; though inside I wanted to swoon over Hale's smirk I couldn't let the crew know about Hale and me, not yet anyways. I grabbed a chair from the table and sat next to Simon who was working on his lap top.

I took a deep breath; it was time to get down to business. "This job didn't go as planned."

Gabrielle shot me a look and snorted, "You think."

I sighed, "We got four out of six paintings, and that's more than half."

"Yes, but that's still **not **all six that we need. How are we supposed to get these two other paintings Kat?" She frowned.

"Well…" I said trying to buy myself some time to think, and luckily for me Hale spoke up.

"How about we find out, who took these paintings first." He looked at Angus. "So what happened; why didn't you get the paintings?"

Angus was silent for a while, like he couldn't remember what had happened in the past hours. Hale looked like he was going to ask again when Angus finally spoke up. "I was ambushed." He yawned. "I don't know where they came from. They must have been there before us."

"They?" I blinked as I asked.

"Well what did you expect? That only one person doing a job like that, Kitty Kat" Hale smirked at me. I ignored him and looked and Angus.

"How many people were there?" I asked him.

Angus shrugged and yawned. "I saw two girls and they were wearing all black." He paused then continued to speak. "I got a glimpse of their faces."

"And what did you see?" I looked at Angus trying to decipher his sleepy expression.

"They were wearing masks…Silver masks."

"Isn't that a bit cliché?" Gabrielle said as she crossed her legs. "I mean a silver mask, and black out fits. Those two so don't go together."

"What else did you get to see Angus?" I asked before Gabrielle started ranting about mix-matching outfits. Angus, well he yawned.

"That they were hot, but other than that I didn't see anything else."

"What about their age? Height? Weight? Anything?"

"Well… they were thin and tall." He looked at me and shrugged.

"What were they wearing?" Gabrielle asked as she pulled out a pocket mirror.

"Black clothing; like us."

"No that's not what I meant. What I meant was… was it something **I **would wear…" Gabrielle pointed to herself "Or is it something **Kat** would wear?" Then she pointed at me. I frowned; my wardrobe is fine and comfortable. Practical is more like what I would call my wardrobe and personally I don't think that my wardrobe is bad.

Angus scoffed "I'm not a girl; I don't know the difference in clothes."

"Gee you're hopeless."

I rolled my eyes and looked at Angus, "Was there something else that you might be able to recognize if you saw them again?"

He was silent for a while then said, "Yea before I blacked out."

I blinked and I even heard a few gasps. "Wait, you blacked out?" I asked.

He nodded and looked at everyone rather serious. This coming from a guy who laughs at fart noises, so this must have been serious. He started off explaining in a quiet tone, "Yea I blacked out. Someone come out behind me and hit me in the back of the head."

I was surprised. What kind of thieves where we dealing with? What kind of people would go to the extent of knocking someone out just to steal some paintings? These people must be dangerous. I looked at Angus and he still looked sleepy. "So what else happened?" Simon asked.

"Well before I blacked out one of the girls came up to me and smiled, and I saw a necklace. It kind of looked like a crystal." He blinked and looked at Simon. "It was like… a crystal."

I blinked, what did he mean by the necklace looked like a crystal? I saw Gabrielle smile and I gave her a weird look. How can she be smiling at a time like this? "It's a crystal point necklace." Gabrielle said with a smile and looked a little too happy about it.

"A what?" I asked.

"A crystal point necklace" She smiled and I frowned. I still had no idea what she was talking about. "My goodness Kitty Kat you have no fashion sense do you?"

I ignored her comment and asked, "Well then clarify this to us since it looks like none of us knows what a crystal point necklace is."

She shook her head. "I can't explain it but if Simon looks it up you can see what I'm talking about." I looked at Simon and he was already looking up what a crystal point necklace looks like. It only took Simon a few minutes to find a picture of the necklace's appearance. Then he turned his computer around so that we could see what he had found. I looked at it. The picture that Simon had found online was a simple clear quartz crystal cut in a point fashion, hence the name crystal point necklace.

I looked at Angus to see his reaction of the picture. His eyes were wide; it seems that the picture Simon showed Angus could have been what the necklace looked like. "Well?" Gabrielle asked impatiently. "Was it similar to what you saw?"

Angus blinked and looked at the computer screen, "Yea, but it was two colors a white and a bluish color."Simon and I both nodded; I was about to speak when Gabrielle spoke up.

"A necklace like that is rather noticeable and out of season. So I think it could stick out if she wore it out in public." Gabrielle had a smile on her face like we just trapped these mystery thieves. The rest of the guys seemed to think so as well, I was starting to agree with them. Alex, who had been quiet all night, finally spoke up.

"Well a necklace like that is rather rare in fashion itself. It could be a family heirloom or something this mystery thief deems as a prized possession. I mean a professional thief knows not to wear anything that might single you out in public. She must wear it all the time or" He paused to take a breath. "She might only wear it during heists." Alex shrugged and looked at Gabrielle. "Or she wears it all the time that she forgot to take it off." He gave Gabrielle a sly smile and she swooned. I rolled my eyes.

Gabrielle smiled and practically shrieked when she said, "Exactly!"

"No need to shout; we can all hear you." I said as I covered my ears.

She stuck her tongue out at me, "Whatever, but Alex has a point. I think this girl forgot to take it off. It's too small to be noticed and very different to not be seen in public."

"Uh what does that even mean?" Simon asked as he gave me a confused look.

"How am I supposed to know what even she means?"

"You're a girl right?"

I frowned, "Yes Simon I'm a girl, but that doesn't mean I speak Gabrielle."

"Hey I'm right here!" Gabrielle yelled

"Yes we know." I looked at her and she frowned at me.

"If you would all let me explain, this mystery girl wears a necklace that won't be noticed if you get a quick glance at her. So wearing it during a heist as a label wouldn't really work. A bright red suit would call more attention than a small crystal point necklace." She pulled out a file out of her pocket and started to file her nails. "This girl must wear it all the time and forgot to take it off for the heist." She smiled, "Meaning that she just made a big mistake by letting Angus get a good look at her necklace." I smiled slowly. This was just perfect. We had some kind of clue as to who could have attacked Angus.

"Um, why is Hamish asleep?" Simon asked

"Well ask him." Hale said with a smirk.

"Ew, he's drooling." Gabrielle screamed.

I just got up and walked over to Hamish and tapped his shoulder. "Hey Hamish wake up." I barely even touched him when he jumped and fell out of his chair. He gasped for air as he looked up at me. "What is wrong with you Hamish?"

He blinked at me and looked utterly confused. "Uh?"

"Are. You. Okay?" I asked a little slower this time just to make sure that he understands me. Hamish just got up off the floor and sat back down in his chair.

"I'm just sleepy." He yawned.

"But how can you be sleepy?" I asked and he just shrugged. "You were fine before we left. How can you be sleepy?"

Hamish yawned, "I think someone put me too sleep."

I blinked. Yet again something had happened to make this heist seem like it had gone completely wrong. What was it that these thieves do to completely mess with our heist? "What do you mean?" I asked

"I was in the van waiting like I was supposed to when I saw something, a black think figure. I sat up too see what it was and then I heard someone knock on the van's doors."

"Yea?"

"I opened the doors." He yawned, "There was no one there and thought I was hearing things so I closed the door and looked out the window." He yawed again.

"Then what happened?" Hale asked.

"I felt someone touch my shoulder and a prick on my neck. When I looked back to see who had touched me I saw a figure. A girl, I guess. She was wearing all black and had…" Hamish's eyes got big.

"Had what?" Gabrielle asked.

"That same necklace that the girl Angus saw was wearing." My jaw nearly dropped when I heard this. I couldn't believe it. One of the two girls hit Angus in the back of the head and the other gave him something to make Hamish sleep.

"So you mean we are dealing with thieves that use force and tranquilizers?" Simon asked. I simply nodded.

"Oh and let's not forget that they tied me up and left me in the janitor's closet." Angus added as he rubbed his neck.

"They did what?" Hale and I asked at the same time.

"Yea I woke up tied up in a janitor's closet." He yawned and seemed rather calm about all of this. There was silence in the room. Were these people worse than Taccone? I mean we **are **all bad guys; stealing is against the law and we've **all** broken that law. Taccone is the dangerous kind of bad, so are these two girls just as bad as Taccone or are they worse? I wonder who these thieves are.

I looked up at Hale who had been speaking apparently. I must have gotten lost in thought. "Well we can't just ignore the fact that they have the two paintings we need."

"But they put Hamish to sleep and locked Angus in a closet!" Gabrielle exclaimed.

"Yes, but…"

"Wait, we can't go after these thieves. We have no idea who they might be and the only clues we have is a necklace and that they're girls. There are millions of girls on this planet!" I said and half yelled.

"Yea, but not that many people wear crystal point necklaces." Gabrielle pointed out.

"Plus," I continued "you have to be a really good thief to have a calling card like that." Simon nodded in agreement as he typed away on his laptop. Then he smiled.

"I knew I had seen something like this before."

"Seen what Simon?" I asked

"The Black and White Roses calling card; I've seen somewhere before. It's apparently rather famous and is much like a pseudonym. No one has been able to catch these thieves." He looked at his computer. "It's quite amazing. These people, whoever they might be, have wiped museums, banks, and jewelry stores clean. Only to leave behind a white rose and a black rose in some strange places."

"Like how they left the roses in the display case?" I said stating a fact.

"Yea exactly" He smiled as he looked down at his computer, "and by the looks of it, no one knows how who they are or how they do it." Simon tapped a few keys and frowned. "These girls… they leave no evidence behind, nothing. No finger prints, no hair, no one ever sees the heist happen and nothing looks like it gets moved out of place." He looked at me and smiled. "This is magnificent. It's almost surreal the way these heists go about."

"This seems impossible compared to the Henley." Gabrielle stated.

"Well if we could do the Henley…" Hale smirked as he looked at me. "Well then we can pull this one off too."

I heard the door open and looked to see who had come in and saw Marcus at the door. "Master Hale" he said. "The Monet has been stolen."

"Are you sure Marcus?"

"Yes, come see for yourself." We all got up and headed to the hall were the Monet was suppose to be hanging, all of us except for Hamish since he had fallen asleep again. When we got there the only thing that was there was a black rose and a white rose. These thieves had stolen the Monet.

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><p>AN: Tell me what you think. Love? Hate? Review please. No flames. Gracias. :D


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Sorry it took me so long to update, but I had some writer's detour that took me on another idea for a different fanfic and then I had tons of homework and tests. :/ So here it is I hope you all like it. I spent a lot of time working on it. Oh and I will be posting updates on my story's progress on my profile. Read, Review, and Enjoy. :D

**Disclosure:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the calling card of the mystery thieves. The plot is mine and the calling card is too so if you want to use it please ask. Oh and Alex is mine too. Enjoy ^-^

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 Kat POV<strong>

"They stole the Monet." Hale said in amazement. "You couldn't even steal the Monet, Kitty Kat."

"That's because you caught me; you weren't supposed to be home." I argued.

He smirked, "Yea and I'm glad I caught you." He winked at me and I rolled my eyes. Was he seriously trying to flirt with me at a time like this?

"Hale, can you concentrate. These thieves just stole the Monet."

"Forgive me Kitty Kat; I just thought that it was rather important to point out that you were a great catch." He smirked and I shoved him.

"How did they even get into the mansion?"

"I'm working on figuring that out." Simon said; I looked at him and he was working on a small device, probably a hacking device no doubt.

"Are you hacking into my security system Simon?" Hale asked.

"Yea and you should get better fire walls. It's no wonder they bypassed the security system." Simon smirked.

"Did **they** hack into my security system?"

Simon kept working on his little device and I looked at the wall where the roses now hung. There had to be some kind of clue that they left behind. No one is this good, I thought. I stared at the roses and didn't see anything that could possible give a clue to who this other crew is.

I was still looking at the roses when I heard Simon say, "They didn't switch off the alarms. So how could they have gotten in?"

"You mean they just walked in here and took the Monet without setting the alarm off?" I heard hale say. I blinked then looked at Simon.

"Maybe they did turn the alarms off and then switched them back on."

Simon shook his head. "They would have left a trail."

"Check the cameras." Hale said.

"I'm on it." Simon started to work on his little device to look at what the cameras might have caught. From what had happened earlier, I don't think that these thieves would be dumb enough to get caught on the security camera. Simon was busy working away and I couldn't help but wonder why they would steal Hale's Monet. After a moment of silence I asked, "Did you find anything Simon?"

"Yea and you guys will not believe what I'm looking at."

"What?" Hale and I asked at the same time.

"Well…" Simon was about to explain what he saw on the security cameras when Gabrielle interrupted.

"Wait look, there's a note." Gabrielle pointed to the wall. "Between the roses." She plucked the note from between the flowers. I thought the security system would go off and shock Gabrielle, but it didn't, what a disappointment.

"Read it." Simon said.

Gabrielle opened the note and read aloud:

_Hello my fellow thieves. As you might have noticed the Monet from the wall is missing. A fabulous painting if I do say so myself. Just wanted to let you know that it is in safe hands and will not be returned._

_Best of luck, from Black and White_

_P.S. Tag you're it. Try and find me._

We were all silent for a moment; these girls had some serious nerve leaving a note like that. "What snobs." Gabrielle said, "Can we say, 'Big ego?'" I completely agreed with her for once, but no one needed to know, so I didn't say a thing.

"Well they certainly have the skills to back up that ego; look at this." said Simon. He turned around his tiny device to show us the screen, which is rather small.

"What are we looking at?" Gabrielle said. She squinted her eyes; trying to look at the screen. I didn't see anything specific on the screen. All I saw was a black figure move across the screen.

"What if we look at this on a bigger screen?" said Alex who was standing behind Gabrielle trying to get a view of the tiny screen.

"Yea; there's a TV in the other room" Hale pointed in the direction of the room. They all nodded and left to the room. I stood there staring at the roses that were now in the Monet's place. I couldn't help but wonder why they would want to steal from us. I sighed as I stared at the roses. "Don't be so down Kitty Kat." I turned quickly and saw that Hale was right beside me.

"Aren't you going to go see the camera footage?" I asked him, though it was probably useless. I mean he is my boyfriend.

He smirked at me, "And have you miss out on all the fun?" He put his arm around my waist and pulled me in for a side hug. "No way Kitty Kat."

I rolled my eyes but I couldn't help but smile a little. "Won't the crew be wondering why you're out here with me?"

"Nope, I had Marcus keep them busy." He smirked yet again. "Plus I can always find the time to spend with you Kitty Kat." He kissed my cheek and I smiled.

"You always know what to say_ William_?"

"Nope, but nice try." He smiled. Well maybe one day I'll get Hale to tell me his first name. "And of course I know what to say."

I smiled at Hale and let him hold me. I needed the comfort right now, so I let him hug me as I stared at the roses. "I can't seem to figure out how they got in or why they would have come in to the mansion in the first place." I looked at Hale and stared into his eyes, which made me want smile. "What is the point of all of this? I don't think it has to do with their ego."

"Well maybe there's some kind of clue to all of this." I looked at Hale and blinked.

"What do you mean a clue?" I looked back at the roses and stared at them for a bit before I noticed that roses were arranged in an X. I moved Hale's hand from my waist and walked up to the roses. I took them down and behind the roses was another note.

"What is it?" Hale asked me as I grabbed the note.

"It's another letter." I looked at Hale. "But why would they leave two notes?"

"Well open it and find out." I hesitated. Was it safe to open this other note or should we have looked at the footage first? Well here goes nothing. I opened the note and luckily nothing exploded in my face. So maybe these thieves weren't **that** bad. I read it to myself first. "What does it say, Kitty Kat?"

My eyes were wide as I looked up at Hale. "It says that…" I looked back down at the note and read it aloud:

_Dear Katrina Bishop,_

_As you may have noticed there is more to this caper than just stealing a single painting from that lovely mansion. I ask of you to come and meet me today in the park near your Uncle Eddie's home. Yes, we know where you uncle lives. Now we would like it if you came alone, but you may bring that boy along as well. However, we won't be at fault if something were to happen to him. You __**will**__ comply with us unless you want your precious boyfriend and family to be harmed. I look forward working with you Katrina Bishop, be there 9:30 am sharp._

_~ Silver_

_Ps: Don't be late. _

I blinked at the letter in my hand. This wasn't getting any better, rather it just got worse and much more serious. Hale looked at me with a blank expression. I wonder what he was thinking. He didn't say a single word for about five minutes. "Hale?" I said

"Who are these thieves?" He yelled. I hoped that no one had heard him.

"No the letter was signed differently." I showed him the signature. "It's not form them. It might be their employer."

"But still they put everyone in danger Kat; even you." He moved my hair out of my face. "We can't let the crew find out about this yet."

"You mean I'm going to go meet this person?" I looked at my watch it's was 2:36 am. I had precisely six hours and fifty-four minutes to meet this stranger at the park near Uncle Eddie's house.

"Yes, Kat you're going to go meet this person."

"You're not coming with me are you?"

"No Kat, I have to make sure no one tries to follow you. Who knows what that person will do if I tag along."

"But it could be a trap." He grabbed my hand and placed something in it.

"Here take this" He said. I opened my hand and in my palm was a ring. I blinked.

"Are you proposing to me Hale?" He blinked and looked down at the ring. I saw him blush.

"No Kat, this is a tracking device. That also contains a recording device." He grabbed the ring and slid it onto my finger. "It's so that I can know you are safe." I smiled as I looked at the ring. It was a simple band ring; it was silver. Nothing too gaudy and I loved it. I stared at the ring for a while before Hale interrupted my blissful moment by clearing his throat.

"What?" I asked and I turned to face him. Hale kissed me, full on the lips, kissed me. It was a smooth and soft kiss. A tender kiss; I nearly melted. He pulled away and I wanted just a bit more.

"Be safe out there okay?" I nodded.

"You know me Hale, always precautions."

"Of course." He rolled his eye as he held me in his arms. He was warm and I didn't want him to left go, but he had to let go of me eventually. "Kat I want you to know…"

I interrupted him, "Hale, it'll be fine." I kissed his cheek. "Now let's go inside the room and see what the security camera caught." I turned to get out of Hale's hold, but he wouldn't let me go. "Hale we need to figure out what these thieves are like." I squirmed to get out of Hale's arms, but he refused to let me go.

He turned me around and smirked. "Look at what I caught…Kat the cat burglar."

"Hale, would you…" He silenced me with his finger and I blinked.

"Shh. Kat you worry too much."

I moved his finger from my lips. "Says the guy who gave me a ring to make sure I was okay." Now it was my time to smirk. He frowned and pulled me in close, so close there was no space between us. At first I didn't notice the closeness of our bodies and when I looked down to push him away I realized how truly close we were. I'm pretty sure I blushed. I didn't push him away, rather I just looked down.

"What the matter Kitty Kat?" I didn't look at him but I was pretty sure he was smirking.

I tried to push him away, "Nothing." He didn't budge and kept me pretty close. He gently grabbed my chin and raised it so that I could look at him; our faces were close. "Hale." He put his finger on my lips again.

"Shh Kitty Kat." He moved his finger from my lips.

"But Hale, we should…" He had his arms around my waist in a hug when kissed me. I closed my eyes and kissed him back. The kiss was gentle and passionate. I could feel how worried he was in this kiss, like it could be the last kiss. My hands were against his chest and his arms around my waist. The world felt like time had stopped. I lost track of time, so when he pulled away I felt like it should have been longer. He left me wanting more.

"Know c'mon Kitty Kat, they're all probably waiting for us in the other room." I frowned; I didn't want to hear that. What a mood killer. I looked at Hale and he was still holding me.

I looked down, "Um maybe you should let me go first?" He blushed and quickly let me go. I kissed his cheek which made him blush even more and walked back to the other room leaving him behind. I walked into the room and Gabrielle and Simon were talking.

"How can that be possible Simon?" I heard Gabrielle say.

"We've discussed this Gabrielle; I don't know how they made it through the mansion without setting off the alarms." Simon argued.

"But she just walked through the sensor and it didn't go off." Gabrielle was pointing to the television screen.

"Maybe it was a glitch in the system." I said as I closed the door behind me. Hale must have been still pretty red to come back into the room.

"The system would have reported the glitch." Simon stated as if it were a simple fact.

"Not necessarily." I walked over to a chair near Simon and sat down. "Not unless the glitch was programmed."

"It would still be in the system."

"Not if they cover their path." I debated.

"But wouldn't that leave a trail of some kind?" Gabrielle asked.

"It would." I said. "Unless they have the master codes for the system, then it would be like they're invisible to the sensors." Simon was silent, probably pondering about my theory.

"I think you could be right." said Simon as he looked at the TV screen which had the security camera footage on replay. "But how could they have gotten the master codes for the system?"

"Who knows." Gabrielle shrugged.

"Maybe they stole those too." Hale said as he came in through the door and right behind him was Marcus with a tray of sandwiches.

"Would anyone like a like snack?" Marcus asked as he set the tray on the table where Hamish and Angus had fallen asleep. I didn't bother to get up; I wasn't hungry. However Hale thought that I should eat and brought me a sandwich half. I took it without complaint, but I didn't eat it. Alex didn't eat anything either he was standing against the wall looking at the television the entire time. He looked puzzled much like Simon, but his expression was more of a worried puzzled expression. Gabrielle brought Simon a sandwich and handed it to him. I saw Simon give Gabrielle a small smile and then he looked at his computer which was in front of him.

"It could be a possibility." Simon looked at his computer screen and then at the television. "Look at the footage and you'll see why I'm so unsure of how they got into the mansion."

Hale and I watched the television and at first it started rather slow. The hall was empty and there was a clear view of the doors and the window near the camera. The only blind spot it has was the corner near the far side of the window, but other than that it was a clear view. As I watched the footage I noticed that the window was open. Who would have opened the window?

This is where things got strange. Someone, a girl, just appeared on screen near the window. I think I must have blinked and missed her entrance into the view. She looked straight at the camera and smiled, well it was more like a smirk. She was dressed much like Angus had described, black clothing and a silver mask. She was lean and had a dancer's figure. Her hair was black and in a pony tail fashion. She had a small shoulder bag, which was black as well. Except… this girl wasn't wearing that crystal point necklace that Angus and Hamish had seen. "Wait." I told Simon. "Go back a bit." He nodded and rewound the footage in slow motion. "Stop!"

"What is it?" Hale asked; I ignored him.

"Simon, can you zoom into the thief's face?"

"Yea, but she's wearing a mask."

I snapped at him, "Just zoom in Simon."

"Zooming in." The image was blurry at first but Simon fixed it so that it was a clear shot of this girl's face and her neckline.

I pointed to the TV screen, "Look at her neck." Simon moved the view a bit lower to get a more focused view of the thief's neck. "She's doesn't have that necklace that Angus and Hamish saw." I looked at the screen and frowned. "She must have been the one who tranquilized Angus. He only saw the other thief and not the one behind him. This must be someone else."

"Or it could be the same person." Alex said; I turned to face him and he was still leaning against the wall.

"You think that she would take her necklace off just to break into the mansion?"

Alex shrugged, "It's just a thought."

"How did I not see that?" Simon said.

"Like I said before" Gabrielle said, "that necklace is not noticeable during a heist unless you look for it."

"But how can we be sure that's really it is them?" Hale pointed out.

"Well they are wearing the silver masks and…" said Gabrielle.

I interrupted, "Someone wake Angus and Hamish up." No one moved to wake them up. "Okay, Hale how about you wake them up?" Hale grumbled but got up anyways and walked over to Angus and shook him a little. Angus didn't wake up. Hale looked at me. "Try again." I said; Hale sighed and shook Angus a bit more roughly. Angus woke up and fell over with a thud.

"Ow, What? What's going on?" Angus asked as he sat up quickly. He looked around confused and Hale looked like he was about to laugh, but instead Hale said, "Get up we want you to look at some of the security camera footage we got of the thieves."

Angus blinked, "You guys caught them on camera?"

"Yes, we'll explain that later." I looked at Hale, "Wake Hamish up." I turned to Simon, "Show Angus the footage meanwhile Hale wakes Hamish up. Oh and Alex would you mind explaining what happened to Angus?" Alex nodded and explained to Angus what had occurred to the Monet. They studied the footage along with Simon and Gabrielle. I went over to Hale who had already woken up Hamish.

"So they stole the Monet?" Hamish asked Hale.

"Yea and didn't set off a single alarm off." Hale said.

"So why did you wake **me **up for?"

"Hale woke you up so you can look at the security camera footage." I said as I pointed to the television that Angus, Simon, Gabrielle and Alex were all looking at. "I think you should look at it. We want to know if that's the girl you saw."

"Alright I go take a look." Hamish said and walked over to the group and the discussion began.

We spent nearly two hours discussing who this girl on the footage was; I was off to the side listening and commenting anytime I felt that it would be appropriate. Hamish had fallen asleep again and Gabrielle was asleep as well. Simon was awake since he had to work with the equipment and didn't really want anyone else to mess with it, but she looked extremely tired. Alex on the other hand was wide awake; he didn't look tired at all. Angus and Hale were still awake but looked bored out of their minds. I looked at the clock and it was 5:30am. I needed to get out of this mansion soon but I couldn't let the rest of the team know. So I yawned. "Well I'm off to bed." I stood up and stretched. "I don't know about you guys but I need sleep after a long day like this."

"Okay." said Alex; the only guy who paid me any attention. I walked out of the room and headed to the blue room which belongs to Hale's mother, but his parents never seem to be home. I sometimes wonder where Hale's parents go and why they would leave their son behind. I sat on the bed and stared down at my feet. I wonder what time it was. The last time I looked at the clock I only had about four hours left. I took my shoes off and then lay down in the bed and stared up at the ceiling. I must have dozed off because the next thing I remember was Hale waking me up.

"Kat, wake up Kat." He shook me lightly then kissed my cheek. "Wake up you'll be late."

"Late?" I opened my eyes, "Late for wha…Oh!" I quickly got up. "What time is it?"

"It's eight." I put my shoes on and looked at Hale. "You have an hour to get there." He said.

"Actually it's an hour and a half, but you're right I have to leave." Hale handed me my coat. "Wait but what about the rest of the crew? Are they still awake?"

Hale shook his head, "No they all feel asleep an hour ago." He smirked. "I made sure that they wouldn't be awake when you left."

I gave Hale a weird look, "I don't know what you did, but did you tell Marcus…"

Hale pulled me in for a kiss; I closed my eyes then pushed him away, "I'm not going to die Hale, now I have to get going."

He let me go, "I arranged for you safe arrival to the park."

I smiled and kissed Hale's cheek, "I'll be back." I walked to the door and put my hand on the door handle. "I.."

"You what?" Hale looked at me; I looked at him and smiled, then walked out the door and headed to the car that was waiting for me outside. As the car pulled out I saw Hale looking at me from the window. He looked worried; I couldn't look at him for too long. It only made me feel worried; I was about to meet someone that could possibly be just as bad as Taccone or worse.

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><p><strong>AN: Love? Hate? Review please. All accepted except for flames. :D **

**Thank you to all who have you reviewed my story specially rasingdanielle who is a regular reviewer oh and TopSecret whoever you might be thanks for the idea I was getting stuck for a moment there I really appreciate it. **

**And to all you readers out there REVIEW PLEASE; getting reviews makes my day. ^-^  
><strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Sorry for taking so long to update. I had a poster project and other homework and I was stuck for a moment; that kept me from writing and updating sooner. :( I Hope you enjoy the fourth chapter of my story. Please** REVIEW**; tell me what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the calling card of the mystery thieves. The plot is mine and the calling card is too so if you want to use it please ask. Enjoy ^-^

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: Kat POV<strong>

The drive to the park felt like a life time and as the car approached the park I felt butterflies in my stomach. This was strange to me since I don't ever get like this; I didn't even feel this way when I meet Taccone for the very first time. Perhaps I was letting Hale's worries get to my head. I was looking out of the window when the car came to a stop. I didn't wait for the driver to come and open the door for me; there was no need. Once I was out of the car I walked over to the driver, he was just about to open his door when I told him not to wait for me. He blinked and I smiled back reassuringly. He nodded and left me there at the park, alone. I was a bit surprised that the driver didn't say something about the master's orders, AKA Hale, wanting me to be safe and was ordered to stick around. I shrugged it off as I watched the car leave. I decide to walk through the park looking around for something, someone that might be associated with this Silver person.

I saw the ordinary, people walking, talking, jogging, and walking their pets, kids playing, and people sitting on benches. I frowned a little; there were too many people here, why would this Silver person pick a place that's so busy. I sat down on a nearby bench watching the people pass by. I couldn't help but think how lucky they are to have a **normal** life. I sighed when I overheard a group of teenage girls that were passing by and talking about their school dance. I guess I'll never get to go to one of those or at least to one where I'm actually invited. I looked at my watch and it was ten minutes till nine thirty, so I guess that means I was early and now I had to wait for this Silver person to arrive.

I didn't see too many interesting things while I waited. A mother tried to get her two kids to play nice and not fight. Those kids reminded me of a miniature version of Angus and Hamish, except these two kids weren't arguing over a smoke bomb prototype. There were a few joggers and a lady walking a dog who passed by me during these ten minutes. The park was busy but things seem to go by rather slow.

I looked at my watch nine thirty on the dot; why can't people be on time to meetings like these? I got up to take a moment and stretch when a jogger crashed into me. I fell back down onto the bench and she fell to the floor. "Ow, the floor hurts." The jogger said as she stood up. "Hey I'm real sorry for running into you like that." She said as she rubbed her neck.

I sat up and looked at her blankly, "No, it's okay." I looked at the girl and she was not in jogging gear; she was in regular street clothes, jeans and a t-shirt.

She smiled at me and started to walk away, "Well sorry again, but I've got to run."

I put my hands in my pockets and felt something that wasn't there before. I pulled out a folded piece of paper. I looked at the paper and written on it was my name, _Katrina Bishop. _"Hey wait!" I called out for the girl but when I looked back up she was gone. She had practically vanished; I turned to look for her and she was nowhere to be seen. This girl was a really fast runner or I was just dazed a bit longer than I realized. When I finally gave in and realized that I wasn't going to find this girl that crashed into me I looked down at the note in my hands. I took a deep breath and opened it; it said: _Walk to the trees on the other side of the park. I will be waiting for you there. ~Silver. _

I sighed and headed for the trees on the other side of the park. I took my time getting to the other side and as I got closer to the trees I realized it was more secluded and there less people in this area. I only hoped I wasn't walking straight into a trap. When I finally got there I felt like someone was watching me. "Hello?" I asked and was kind of hoping no one would answer me so I could turn back and head back to Hale's mansion.

"This way." I heard a soft female voice beckon me to come closer. I hesitated but I walked toward the voice anyways, which lead me deeper into the trees. I stopped when I felt lost. "This way." I heard again and stepped toward the voice. I came across a broken tree which had fall across a nature trail. I was going to go around it when I heard the voice again, but this time the sound of the voice was much closer. "Over here." I turned and walked towards the voice; this was getting old fast.

"Listen," I said quite annoyed, "where are you?"

"Over here." The voice said, "Just follow me." I frowned and reluctantly followed. Finally, after walking in circles and feeling completely lost I came across this car, a black limo. I blinked and looked around; I was in a completely different part of the park. I walked up to the limo and stood by the door waiting for Silver to bring the window down. But instead I heard a muffled scream. I took a step back and bumped into somebody behind me. Before I got the chance to turn around and see who I had bumped into, the person grabbed me by the shoulders. I mentally panicked but I kept a calm expression. The limo door opened and I was shoved into the limo.

I somewhat crash landed on top of this over-sized man. He was very large and muscular much like you would expect a security guard or a bodyguard to be. Well, this man, grab me and sat me down while the other man, who must have been the one who shoved me in, got into the limo. I looked at both of them, "Neither of you happen to be the person who sent me those love letters right?" And neither of them answered me. I frowned as I felt the limo drive off. _Great, _I thought,_ I've just been kidnapped. _

The limo was simple yet elegant, with a small TV and a small bar for drinks, which was well lit. I looked up and saw no sunroof so that wasn't an escape option. The windows were tinted black so I couldn't see out, but then that also meant that no one could see in. I gulped at the thought. The seats were black leather; the lighting was murky and kind of creepy. What I hadn't noticed was another girl that was sitting in front of me; on the other side of the limo, or at least I thought it was a girl. There were two large men next to her. One of the men was covering most of her, which is why it's a bit difficult to tell if it was a girl, while the other guy, a bald guy, was doing something else. I gasped a little when I realized that scream I heard just before I got shoved into this limo must have been hers. I looked at the men next to me and saw that they were carrying guns. I quickly looked away from the two men at my side and looked across the limo.

"Ow!" The bald guy said as he quickly backed away from the girl; brining his hand up to his ear. "She bit my ear!" His tone was slightly accented and from my guess I'm thinking he spoke Spanish. The other guy said something but I didn't catch it. However the girl smirked at the two men and they were not too happy about it. The man she bit, the bald one, was still holding his ear while the other one finished what he was doing.

"There, now maybe she won't be trouble." said the man; when he pulled away I blinked. I saw a girl with red hair and brown eyes. She had her hands and feet had bound and didn't seem the little bit phased about this. These two men, the bald one and the other guy had just tied this girl up.

"Ustedes no saben con quien se metieron."***** She said. The guy with the bloody ear glared at the girl and the girl just smiled, which infuriated him even more. He raised his hand to hit her. "Anda pega me."****** She had an 'I dare you' expression written all over her face. I looked away thinking that he was going to hit her, but amazingly enough he didn't.

"The boss said to not to hurt them." I sighed with relief when I heard him say that. I looked back at the two men and the girl that were sitting across from me. She was smiling which was rather weird considering that she's probably just been kidnapped as well.

I mustered up the courage to ask, "Where are we going?"

"To see the boss."

"And where is that?" I looked at the windows and saw that they were black, so I couldn't see out. I sighed since I had forgotten about the windows. No one answered me not even the girl, who now looked bored out of her mind. I wondered how she can be so calm about being kidnapped.

The drive felt like a lifetime and no one would speak to me and I wasn't really sure how to even talk to the girl that was in the limo with me. After a while I started to feel even more worried about what might happen. Perhaps Hale was right and this bad guy is actually worse than Taccone.

"Don't look so worried." The girl said to me. I looked up at her a bit surprised. I guess I didn't think she could speak English. She smiled at me. "They'll walk all over you if you show weakness." She smiled again.

I blinked and felt a little weird out by this girl's cheerfulness, but I guess that it just meant that she was acting like this so they won't think she's weak? I nodded at the girl and then looked at my fingers. I looked at the ring and instantly thought of Hale. Well at least he would know where I was even if I didn't. "That's a pretty ring." She said.

"Yea, it was a gift." I said as I played with my ring.

"Hm," She looked at the ring then back at me, "He must really like you then to have given you such a nice ring."

I was confused, how did she know Hale had given the ring to me. I shook my head maybe I was just over thinking it. I frowned and mentally cursed at Hale for making me worry so much, especially in a moment like this. I looked up at her and was about to ask her why she thought that a boy had given the ring to me, when the limo stopped. I looked at the big man to my right and asked, "So are we there yet?"

I heard a giggle come from the girl and a slap. I flinched involuntary and I didn't hear the girl giggle anymore. I kept my eyes on the man next to me. "So are we?" I asked again taking the chance. The man looked down at me and sneered; for a moment I thought he might actually hit me. But the door opened instead and he stepped out. The guy to my left nudged me forward and I stepped out. The sun blinded my eyes, that limo was so dark… Someone pulled my hand forward forcing me to walk a bit. I was trying to get my eyes to adjust to the light when I was tugged. I didn't really mind if they lead me along since I had no idea where to go anyways. I didn't even know where I was.

I hear a loud thud behind me and quickly turned to see what was going on. The sun shown off the limo and blinded me a bit more, that was until someone blocked the light. The girl had been pinned against the limo. My eyes grew wide. _Wow,_ I thought, _this girl has some serious nerve taking on a bunch of men with guns. _

I was suddenly yanked back by one of the men. I stumbled backwards; barley getting a glimpse of a smile on the girl's face. I kept my view on the girl while I was being pulled along. I heard giggling from the girl and saw the men take a few hits. I couldn't see much at one point so I turned back and walked with the man who had me by the arm. "Ow that hurts, you know." The guy didn't even listen to me and just kept pulling me along; I sighed.

We were approaching a large mansion, about the same size as Hale's mansion, maybe a bit smaller, when I heard laughter behind me. I shrugged it off but it got louder and louder, so I turned around and saw the girl running straight at me. She must have managed to get untied and was running rather fast; straight at me. I blinked and I moved to hide behind the man that was pulling me along. Lucky for me she didn't reach me, but they managed to tackle her to the ground. "Suelta me!"******* She screamed. I peeked out from behind the man and saw that she had been pinned to the floor. She wiggled to get free and even tried biting a few hands. I blinked and moved my arm to get out of the large man's grip.

"Let her go." I said as I walked up to the men who had this girl pinned. They looked up at me blankly. "You're hurting her, and if I heard correctly the boss doesn't want you to hurt her." I pointed to her and I saw her smirk.

"Mine your business girl." The bald man with the blood covered ear said.

"I heard him." I pointed to the other large man who had a buzz cut hairstyle, "Say that the boss didn't want you to harm her."

"I said. Mine your business." He picked up the girl up from the floor roughly and had a tight grip on her arm. Her hands were tied behind her back now and she was covered in dirt. She had a few scratches on her face from the tackle. I looked at the bald man not moving from my spot. "Move." He said as the girl squirmed trying to escape.

"Ask nicely and I will." I said.

The man raised his hand and slapped me in the face; I gasped and brought my hand to my cheek. "Now move." He barked, but I didn't move. I held my ground.

He raised his hand again to hit me when a deep but rather calm voice said, "That's enough Alejandro." I turned and saw a tall well built man about in his late twenties. He had jet black hair a dark browns eyes that were almost as dark as his hair. "Forgive Alejandro, he has a terrible temper. He will be dealt with." He waved the large guards away; even Alejandro left taking the girl with him.

I blinked rather confused. "Who are you?" I asked.

"Ah forgive me for not properly introducing myself. I am the man who has been sending you those notes. I am the one you know as Silver." I stared at him for a moment collecting my thoughts.

"Where did he take the girl?" I asked. Honestly I was rather curious about where the girl was going.

"To her room." Silver said simply. "Follow me Katrina Bishop." He motioned me with his hand to follow him. He didn't seem that bad, even Taccone seemed worse than this guy. Silver had a calm expression and seemed very relaxed. He even wore a simple black T-shirt and dark blue jeans. He didn't look at all like a boss to me. I followed him into the mansion. The entrance the mansion was nice and simply decorated with artwork. He led me to a small waiting room where he sat down on a large lounge chair. "Sit." He said as he motioned to a nearby chair.

I sat down, "Why exactly did you call me here?" I asked.

He smiled at me, "Would you like some tea?"

"No, no thank you." He nodded and sipped his own tea.

"I called you here for a simple reason."

"And that would be?" I asked.

"A job Katrina. I'm offering you and your crew a job."

"And why would I work for you?" I retorted.

"Because." He said as he sipped his tea, "I have your father."

I blinked and nearly panicked. "What?" I said as calmly as possible.

He laughed, "No I do not have you father Katrina, but I could." His tone was serious yet playful. "I could have your father here in a matter of minutes." He took another sip of his tea. "I can also have your boyfriend here." He smiled at me and set his tea aside. "You **will** work for me or I **will **have you father, uncle, boyfriend….well anyone I like killed." I took a deep breath and he looked dead serious.

"And what kind of job requires me and not your own workers?"

"Very simple my dear Katrina." He said, "You're going to steal something for me."

"What exactly am I going to steal?" I was starting to get frustrated with this man, but I couldn't much reject this job considering that my family and friend's lives were on the line.

"You are going to steal queen's crown that is on display at the Tenor Museum."

"But that crown is heavily guarded, twenty-four hours a day. How exactly am I supposed to get into that?" I said rather exasperated.

He laughed, "With my team's help of course, but enough of that now. I have other matters to pertain to." He got up and walked over to a maid who was picking up the tea tray. "Could you take Miss Bishop to the girl's room."

The maid nodded, "The misses' room?" she asked.

"Yes," He whispered something else to the maid and she just nodded as she set the tray down. Silver turned to me and smiled then walked out of the room. I stood up realizing that I wasn't going back home for a while. The maid came up to me and grabbed my hand.

"This way miss." She said.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked politely.

"The master has asked me to take you to the misses' room."

"But I can't stay here. I have to go back home." I said.

"Oh no miss." She said as she pulled me gently along down the long hallway. "The master has ordered that you stay for Lunch."

"Lunch?"

"Oh yes," she said, "He wants to talk to you in more detail during lunch." She looked up at me and smiled. "You are his guest Miss Bishop."

"More like a hostage." I muttered.

"Please do not speak of the master that way. He is quite kind."

"Oh I'm sorry." I lied and the maid nodded at me. She stopped at a door and brought out her key. She unlocked the door with a simple key.

"This is where you will be staying in the mean time." She opened the door and motioned me to go inside. I walked in and expected the maid to say something but she closed the door behind me and locked it. I turned and looked at the door and sighed.

"Trapped again." I said to myself.

"Perhaps." I heard a girl say, "But you aren't alone." I quickly turned around and saw the girl from the limo sitting on a bed with her hands still tied behind her back. I blinked and probably stared at her. She smiled at me. "Oh don't be surprised."

"It's just…" I managed to stammer out.

"Could you help me out here?" She turned her back to show me her wrists. "Alejandro tied it a bit too tight and I can't get loose." She said like this was nothing new to her.

"Yea sure." I said and walked over to her to help untie her.

"My name is Sapphire." She said as I untied her hands. Once I did untie them she turned and faced me. "Thanks, my wrists were starting to hurt." She rubbed her wrists which were red and had faint rope burns on them.

"You're welcome. I'm…"

"Katrina Bishop." She said, "Yea I know who you are."

"How?" I asked.

"Oh I had to..." She looked at something behind me. "Follow you around."

"You spied on me?" I asked with a slight frown. I did not like where this was going. "Why?" I looked at her blankly.

"It was my job." She said playing with her necklace. "I didn't want to get in trouble with him."

I frowned, "Is Silver making you do this? Has he blackmailed you too?"

She looked at me and blinked. She looked confused like she didn't know what I was talking about. "No." was all she said as just looked at the bed.

"Then what?" I said slightly annoyed.

She looked at me and was about to answer when the doors busted open. "What the hell did you do this time Sapph?" A girl with jet black hair and dark brown eyes came in.

"I didn't do anything!" Sapphire retorted.

"Oh no? Then why the hell was I not allowed to go into my own freaking room?" the black haired girl said. Now that I looked at her she seemed familiar. I blinked; Sapphire and this other girl were twins. I stared at them as they argued, which was a while.

"Explain Sapph." The girl said, "Why is dad mad?"

"Dad?" I asked.

"Is that?" The black haired girl asked. Apparently she hadn't noticed me before.

"Yea that's Katrina." Said Sapphire.

"So that's why I couldn't get into my room?"

"Our room" Sapphire corrected.

"Yea yeah, but I still don't get why dad is mad." The girl looked at me and frowned.

"Alejandro." Sapphire said and the black haired girl nodded and then went to go sit on the other bed that was on the other side of the room.

The room was divided into two parts black and blue. Both sides were decorated differently. The black side of the room had white walls, the bad has black sheets and black pillows. Almost everything on that side of the room was black. The only drop of color that was there was red and the occasional pink. It was decorated in a more modern style and very neat and clean, while the blue side of this room was not as clean as the other side of the room. On this side, where I was currently sitting, the bed was covered in blue and was also decorated in a more modern fashion. The walls were white as well as some of the furniture. The other furniture and various things were blue. I could tell that despite the fact that these two girls were twins they were completely different.

"Uh Sapphire?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"Who's your dad?"

"None of your business." The other girl said.

"Stacy be nice." Sapphire said. There was something vaguely familiar about Stacy, like I might have seen her before but I couldn't put my finger on it. "Our father is…"

"Sapph seriously?" Stacy asked Sapphire.

"Well she might as well know."

"Fine." She said and then looked at me. "Our father, Sapph and mine, is Silver." She lay back down in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. I blinked in utter amazement. What father would allow his daughter to be treated like that? I checked my watch and it was only 11:00 am; that means I have to wait a whole hour till Lunch. _Great, _I though_, I just met the world's worst dad. _

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><p><strong>AN: Translations for all you non-Spanish speaking people out there: **

_*** "You don't know who you're messing with." **_

_**** "Go ahead; hit me."**_

_***** "Let me go!"**_

**Love? Hate? Review please. All accepted. :D **

**Thank you to all who have you reviewed my story especially rasingdanielle who is a regular reviewer oh and thank you Reader for reviewing my story it made my day. :) **

**And to all of you readers out there REVIEW PLEASE; getting reviews makes my day. ^-^ OH and just a little advertisement Please read this new fanfic of an ORIGNIAL story me and my fellow FF writer Nevermore77 are writing together. Its under the pen name of **Epiphany37 **go look and read please. I wanted to give all the link but it just would not let me so I give you the pen name instead. Please read and review the story and to all those who review get a virtual piece of CAKE. :D I would really like to get some feedback from you readers out there. I'll finish my rant here. Laters. ^-^**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Sorry for taking soooo long to update. I had school finals... a three day vacation before summer school... and then I was just didn't feel like typing what I has written out, but its finally here! Yay! Please** REVIEW**; tell me what you think. **Constructive criticism is welcome.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the calling card of the mystery thieves. The plot is mine and the calling card is too.

**So here it finally is enjoy! ^-^  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter 5 Kat POV<strong>

I was still in disbelief that Silver was Stacy and Sapphire's father. "Are you okay Katrina?" Sapphire asked me.

"Yea…I'm fine." I lied. Well it wasn't a complete lie. I was just a little thrown off by this new discovery. "Silver, he really is you father?" I asked.

"Yep." Stacy answered. She was still lying in her bed staring up at the ceiling, which I noticed had the night sky painted on it.

"But why-"

"Did he let Alejandro treat me like that?" Sapphire finished my sentence for me.

"Yea."

"Well…" Sapphire looked uncomfortable like it was some secret that she couldn't tell. She was silent and was playing with her red hair. "Well, my father is a…strict guy and likes to show he's in charge."

"What Sapph means is that our father is a jerk who has a lot of power." She sat up and looked at me, with a slight frown. "It's nothing new to us. I mean he is like a mobster."

"He's not a mobster."

"Well he acts like one. I mean he threatens everyone with death, he goes after your family, he's like a millionaire, and he's got an ego the size of the planet." Stacy smirked, "So don't feel sorry for us Katrina, we can handle this ourselves."

"It's actually not as bad as it seems. Father just has a temper and doesn't like to be disobeyed." Sapphire gave a forced smile. I looked around the room a bit more taking all of this in. On the wall, on Stacy's side of the room I saw the Monet.

Hale's Monet.

I blinked and stared at the painting that now hung on the wall of Stacy's side of the room. "See something you like?" Stacy said with a slight smirk.

"The Monet on your wall…where did you get it?"

"Stole it."

"From who?"

"Oh I don't know." She smirked again, "Some rich kid or at least that all I know. I wasn't there."

"Well then why did you say you stole it?"

"Did I?" She said, "I'm sorry, I meant it was stolen."

I couldn't really think of what to say so I just said, "Oh."

"Oh, I see. You know who this belongs to." Another smirk accompanied her statement.

"Yes, it's my boyfriends."

"Oh, so that Hale kid." She looked at the painting at the wall. "He has good taste and terrible security. He should consider upgrading or something."

I frowned and couldn't believe that this girl was taunting me. I guess she has some of her father's qualities. "I'll tell him that."

Sapphire finally spoke up after being extremely quiet. "It was a rather easy steal, but then why would someone steal from another thief for right?"

She had a point. There was no real reason to have extra-tight security since Hale was a thief and not many people steal from other thieves. But this time he made a bad choice on not upgrading his security system like I told him he should. Sapphire and Stacy were talking but I wasn't paying them much attention since I was trying to figure out a way to come back to get the Monet.

"No, you can't sneak out Sapph. You could get in trouble and I'm not going to let that happen. You can get hurt." Sapphire frowned at that statement and grabbed a pillow to hug. "Sapph you know what Dad is capable of and I still need you on this job. So as the older twin I say don't be stupid and just wait for Dad to call us for lunch. Okay?"

"Okay." Sapphire said with a pout. I blinked and stared at Stacy for a moment. What did I miss out on? Stacy was just protecting her sister; trying to keep her safe. Maybe Stacy wasn't so bad after all…The door opened and the same maid that brought me to this room came in.

"The master wants you to wait for him in the patio by the gardens." She looked at me and then curtsied at Sapphire and Stacy. "The master wants his daughters to attend lunch as well to discuss Miss Bishop's job."

Sapphire smiled at the maid, "Thank you Mary. We'll be right down." Before exiting the room the maid did another curtsy at Sapphire and Stacy. I couldn't help but wonder why she did that only to them. I looked at my watch and we still had fifteen minutes to get the patio. Sapphire stood up and Stacy got out of her bed and stretched.

"Well it's off to lunch with Dad." Stacy said.

I got up and walked over to Sapphire. "So where's the patio?"

"Out back and down one floor." Stacy pointed out as she walked to the door and opened it. "After you Bishop."I walked out the door and waited for them in the hall. Sapphire came out and then Stacy. We walked down the hall in silence. When I walked down this long passage I saw various paintings that had been reported stolen by the mysterious Black and White. There was a Dega painting that had gone missing about three months ago and was now hanging on a wall of the hallway. There were a few others that had also been taken from that same museum; there sure were a lot of things that were stolen by Black and White in here. I looked around in amazement; there were so many stolen pieces of art.

"You see something you like, Bishop?" Stacy asked me.

"Hu? Oh well all these paintings are nice, but…" I stopped in front of another Dega painting. "Weren't these paintings stolen by Black and White?" I looked back at Stacy and she just smirked at me.

"My father has a…soft spot for those girls. You'll find out soon enough I'm sure."

And with that we kept walking down that hall and out to the patio, which had a nice view. There was a garden not too far away with rose bushes and many other very types of flowers. It was well taken care of and rather elegant. The patio itself was made of stone and had a few shrubs decorating the patio. There was an outdoor fireplace that was connected to the patio grill. A small, square, metal coffee table and three chairs were in front of the fire place. One of the three chairs was more like a bench, so it could sit two people. The patio grill area was large and curved a bit so it had a large cooking area. There was a patio cover over the grill area so that the stainless steel grill would not get wet. On the other side of the patio was a round table with an umbrella in the center of the table. There were four chairs surrounding the metal round table. And there were small patio lamps in various places of the patio lighting the pathways.

Stacy sat down at the round table and Sapphire sat right across from her; I sat between the two, which only meant that I got to sit across from Silver. Shortly after we all sat down several maids walked over to the patio grill and stared setting up plates with food. Silver still haven't arrived. I glanced at my watch and I was ten minutes till lunch. One of the maids set cup of tea in front of me and in front of the Sapphire and Stacy. Mary came up to the table and said, "The master will be down shortly." Then she did a small bow and left.

I looked at the girls, "You guys live in a nice place."

"Yea I guess." Stacy said as she sipped her tea. "Can I get some coffee instead?" A different maid came over and brought Stacy a cup of coffee and took the tea cup away. Stacy sipped the coffee. "That's much better."

While we waited for Silver to arrive I drank my tea. Sapphire was still smiling, not really sure why, she must be in a very good mood. I must have been staring at Sapphire because Stacy said, "She always smiles like that when she's going to eat."

"She smiles a lot." I remarked.

"Yeah she's like that. At least you don't have to live with her and her smile."

"It can't be that bad."

"You try living with her; she's so peppy and smiles too much. I mean I love her and all cause she's my sister, but it can get annoying sometimes."

I smiled and sipped my black tea. Sapphire didn't seem to mind what Stacy had said about her, but I wonder if she was even paying attention. Not but a few minutes later the maids set the food on the table: grilled chicken, white rice and steamed vegetables. Rather healthy and looks good. I looked up form my plate and notice that Silver wasn't there. Sapphire didn't hesitate and dug right into her food while Stacy rolled her eyes at Sapphire and ate calmly. I didn't eat; I wasn't sure if I could. Silver wasn't at the table yet and I thought it could be rude if I ate when he wasn't there. I looked down at my food, it smelled good.

"Don't worry," said Sapphire, "Father is always late to lunch. He won't mind if you eat." She started eating again and looked really happy. "God I was starving."

"I told you not to skip breakfast." Stacy commented.

"But we had stuff to get done."

"Sapph, you eat all the time and you can't afford to skip meals."

" Yea but-"

"But nothing Sapph." Stacy gave Sapphire a stern look and fro once I saw Sapphire frown. As they talked about skipping meals, I ate my lunch. About half an hour into lunch Silver approached the table. I was done eating and so was everyone else, by the time he showed up. He didn't seem to mind that we all had eaten before he arrived.

He sat down in the empty seat at the table, "Good afternoon girls."

"Good afternoon, Sir" said Stacy. Sapphire was too busy to greet her father, so instead she smiled as she ate the rice on her plate.

"Did you enjoy your lunch Katrina?" I looked at Silver; it seemed strange to hear someone call me Katrina. The only person who calls me by my full name was Uncle Eddie. "Did you?" He asked me again as I snapped out of my thoughts.

"Hu?"

"Your lunch? Did you enjoy it?" He smiled at me and he didn't seem to mind repeating himself.

"Yes, it was good." I actually didn't agree so much with my own statement. I mean how was I supposed to enjoy my food when you're being held against your will in a giant mansion? Oh wait; I'm a guest who can't leave. Not to consider that if I don't do this job I could put my family in even more danger than usual. I wonder if they know where I am. Hale did give me the ring to know where I was…I must have been playing with it because Silver asked me if the ring meant a lot to me. I looked straight at him with no emotion, "No, it's just a ring." I obviously lied, but I made sure not to let Silver know how much this plain ring meant to me. After all Hale was the one who gave it to me.

"**Tell me**." He said "Who gave you that ring?"

I blinked at the question but answered without thinking, "Hale."

"Oh he's cute." Stacy commented.

"That's your boyfriend correct?" Silver asked.

"Yes." Again I answered without hesitation. It was like I was answering on impulse; no thinking required. I couldn't help it; the answer just slipped. Silver smiled at me as his sipped on his coffee casually.

"So **tell** me Katrina, why did he give you that ring?"

"He wanted to make sure that I was safe."

"So it's a tracker?"

"Yes."

"Wonderful."

I blinked realizing that I had just given Silver all this information; without a single hesitation. What had come over me? I felt my face turn red.

"It's okay Kat." Sapphire said, "He just has a way with words." She looked at Silver, her father, and smiled at him but he didn't smile back. He showed no emotion at all; Sapphire kept on smiling but you could see a faint sadness in her eyes as she looked away at the bushes.

"Now on to business." Silver said casually, "If you don't mind Katrina, **hand over **the ring for a moment."

I took the ring off and handed it to him. The only thing that I could think of was _'Sorry Hale' _as I gave the ring to Silver. I don't know where these sudden attacks of impulse came from; it's not something I would do. I think things through and some would even say that I over think things. So why was I acting this way?

Stacy brought me back to reality, "It's a pretty good piece of tech." She was examining my ring, "GPS tracking, built in speaker, light weight, solid gold, and has DNA recognition." She looked at me and said, "He must really care about you, to give you such a **nice **ring."

"He's my boyfriend, of course he cares." I snapped back. Stacy ignored me and kept fidgeting with the ring that Hale had given me before I came to this strange mansion. Stacy frowned as she squished the ring in her hand. I tried to ignore her and looked at Silver instead who seemed to be amused with my confusion. "So what was the job that you wanted me to do?"

"Simple Katrina," He said, "I want you to steal the crown for me."

"Yes we established that already. I meant the details. You kept me here for a reason, not just lunch."

He smiled at me, "Very good Katrina. I did keep you here for a reason other than lunch." He smirked, "I wanted you to talk about the job and who you will be working with."

"I'll be working with my crew."

"As well as my own crew."

"Your crew, and who are they?"

"The girls you only know as Black and White. They will be the ones to work with you and your team."

"Sir?" Sapphire asked, "Are you sure that it's a good idea to have Black and White work with Kat?"

Silver frowned at Sapphire and looked rather disappointed, "You don't think I made a good decision Sapphire?" His tone was harsh and biting.

"I was just curious, sir." Her voice faltered a bit.

"Do not doubt me Sapphire. I know what I'm doing." He looked at me with a calm expression much different than the one he had just five seconds ago.

"I'm working with Black and White then?"

"Yes." He handed me a folder, "In there is everything you need to know." He hands Sapphire and Stacy a similar folder. "Girls," he said addressing his daughters. "Those files are for Black and White." They nodded and excused themselves from the table.

"Where are they going?" I couldn't help but ask.

"They're going to inform Black and White about the job."

"When will I meet Black and White? Are they going to meet me here today?"

He smirked, "No they will meet you some other time. Now back to what is in the folder I handed you." He pointed to the folder that was in front of me, suggesting that I open it, which I did. Inside the folder were pictures of the museum, inside and out, the workers, the guards and cameras. There were notes, blueprints, schematics, data on the workers, and fake IDs. Everything that we might need to know about this place was in this folder.

I looked through the pictures scanning them for information. There were good views of the cameras; so the picture must have been taken in a blind spot, I concluded. I looked at the picture of the guards and looked at them, an old man in his sixties, and a younger guy in his twenties, the classic old man and the rookie. The picture of the doorways suggested that they weren't heavily guarded, but as I flipped through the pictures I didn't see one of the crown.

I stopped at one particular picture. It was of Hale, he was with two girls smiling. I couldn't see the girls' faces but it was clear that the boy in this picture was Hale. Slightly puzzled by the picture I kept looking through the pictures…till I saw another of Hale getting into his limo and in the back ground was the museum that I was supposed to break into. What could Hale be doing at that museum? The rest of the pictures that I looked at were of me and Hale on dates. I frowned and stopped looking through the pictures. I seriously didn't like the idea that I had been followed.

"So why do you want this job done? Why me? You have your precious Black and White crew…"

"It…belonged to my mother."

"Your mother?" I was confused, why would his mother own a crown? Was he some kind of king or something? His attitude sure fits the bill. "Why would that crown belong to your mother?"

"Now, that's a secret, but I will tell you that it was once hers. And now I need that crown back, but my attempts have been fails, so I'm asking you….no telling you to get that crown for me." I was going to ask him why it was so important to him when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked back and saw it was Alejandro, the man that had treated Sapphire roughly when I arrived here. I looked back at Sliver, but he wasn't looking at me. "Take Miss Bishop back home Alejandro."

"Wait, but I still have other questions…"

"Up kid." Alejandro said. I didn't listen to him and just sat there.

"Silver, Sir. I still don't know everything."

He looked at me and said, "Black and White will inform you of the rest." He got up and left. I watched him leave and Alejandro told me to get up. I gathered my things, the folder Silver had given me, and got up. I followed Alejandro out and to the limo. At least this time I wasn't shoved into the limo.

I took my seat inside and off went the limo. The windows of the limo were pitch black and impossible to see out of and there were two large bodyguards at my side. I was heading home, back to Hale. I felt a bit relieved but I still couldn't help to feel that I was still in for something big, something that I won't expect. Perhaps I was just being paranoid. I was going home and that was all I needed to think about at the moment. I was going to see Hale and I couldn't wait to see him again.

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><p><strong>Love? Hate? Review please. All accepted. :D <strong>

**Oh just for fun, a poll:**

So who do you guys like more Sapphire or Stacy? **(I'd love to know!)**

**Thank you to all who have you reviewed my story especially rasingdanielle who is a regular reviewer oh and thank you Reader for reviewing my story it made my day. :) As well as jayflower, thank you very much. And twilightchia17 gracias ^-^**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** It's finally here! Yay! Please** REVIEW**; tell me what you think. **Constructive criticism is welcome.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the calling card of Black and White. The plot is mine and the calling card is too.

**So here it is enjoy! ^-^**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: Kat POV<strong>

The drive back was long and boring. There was no interesting girl in the limo, just me, Alejandro, and two large men. Of which actually reminded me of when I had personally met Taccone. However, Alejandro was much uglier. I couldn't help but smirk at my own thought. I'm pretty sure I was added to another person's hit list, boy I sure am popular.

When the limo finally came to a stop I didn't know where I was. I hadn't asked the driver to drop me off anywhere. It wasn't till I opened the door did I find out that they had dropped me off near the trees at the far end of the park. They must have thought that this was the best spot to leave me. At least it wasn't in the middle of nowhere.

My foot was out the door when Alejandro told the large men to stop me. I turned around and looked at his shinny bald head, "Yes?"

"Next time, don't interfere with my job; I might not be so nice about it."

"I'll remember that next time you terrorize a little girl." I smirked and stepped out of the limo. I kept walking, quickly, not looking back hoping that Alejandro didn't send in his goons after me. I finally looked back when I reached the playground; the limo was gone. I sighed as I felt a slight weight lifted off my shoulders. It was over, well for now…

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder, "You lost?" A strong voice that I recognized said. I glanced at the hand and looked at some five year olds run across the path. I made sure that no one I knew was around when I turned to hug him. All he managed to say "Whoa! Getting a little cozy are we?"

"Oh shut up Hale and hug me."

He hugged me for a few seconds. I only wished it could have felt his warm and strong arms around me for just a few moments more. He pulled me to his side; his arm was around my waist. "Come on Kitty Kat lets go home." He kissed my cheek and led me to the limo. Marcus was there waiting for us. Hale let me go as Marcus opened the limo door for us. I got into the limo and Hale got in right behind me. I sat down and looked out the window. The folder that Silver had given me was on my lap.

"What's in the folder?" He asked me.

"Everything we need to break into the Tenor Museum." I looked at Hale, "Minus the crew we will be working with."

He looked at me a bit confused. "Crew? What crew?"

"Silver," I said as I looked out the window, "he wants us to work with his crew…Black and White."

"You mean the same Black and White who stole the Monet?"

"The very ones." I frowned as I thought about how the Monet hung on the wall of Stacy's room.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I lied, of course something was wrong. My family had a death sentence if I don't get this job done and on top of all of that we had to work with another crew. So, no nothing is right; everything was wrong.

"Kitty Kat, is something bothering you?"

"No Hale, we can talk all about what happened with Silver when we get back home." Hale looked at me and grabbed my hand. I looked at our hands that where now intertwined, and smiled.

"I was worried about you."

"Hm?" I looked at Hale.

"I thought I had lost you Kat."

"Why?" I didn't understand what he was trying to tell me. I looked at his eyes and I couldn't look away.

"The tracer on your ring…" The gaze between us broke when he glanced down at my hand. "Where is the ring I gave you?"

I looked down at my fingers, where the ring was supposed to be, "I was wearing it…It must have fallen off."

"Kat…" The tone of Hale's tone was strong and firm, but there was a hint of concern behind it. I didn't look at him and just hoped we reached the mansion soon. "Kat what happened?"

I looked at him, "Hale, Silver took the ring and nothing happened… I'll tell you the rest when we get back. I'll explain everything then."

"Fine, but at least let me see what's in that folder that you got."

"Here…" I handed him the folder and looked back out the window and watched the trees pass by. "He covered everything, Fake IDs, blueprints; plans…everything."

I could hear the papers rustle as Hale looked through them. "You're right, He covered everything. But why are there pictures of us in here?"

"I was being followed." I tapped my foot just thinking '_Two more blocks. Two more blocks'_

"How didn't we notice?" he kept looking through the pictures I assume, since I wasn't really looking at him but rather I was counting the blocks left to Hale's mansion. We where almost there when Hale grabbed me by the chin and turned my face around, "He threatened you with these pictures, didn't he?"

"No he didn't need the pictures to threaten me Hale." We were approaching the mansion and I thought that maybe I was off the hook for a while, but Hale still seemed rather concerned.

"So, did he threaten you or blackmail you?"

I sighed, "Whichever one gets the people you care about hurt…"

"He really stooped that low?" Hale scoffed, "He's just another power hungry man."

"Yea he is and…" the limo stopped and Marcus opened the door. I stepped out of the limo and walked towards the mansion, not bothering to finish my sentence. Hale followed behind me quietly, probably with the folder that I left behind. Marcus opened the door for us, like he always does. I headed for the room where the team was last; Hale came up to me and grabbed my hand.

"Kitty Kat are you sure you're ready for all of this? Gabrielle won't be so happy about this. None of them will."

"I have to do this Hale." I looked at him, "It has to be done." I tried to open the door but it was locked. I looked at Hale. "It won't open."

"Well you're good at these things, pick the lock."

"Doesn't Marcus have a key to this room?"

"Always the easy way for you Kat…" He knelt down and picked the lock; it only took him five seconds for him to get the door unlocked. Once he was done he stood up and opened the door, "Vaux-la." I looked in and the room was dark.

"Maybe they're all asleep." We stepped in and the door shut behind us. "Hale?"

"I'm right here Kat." He grabbed my hand for reassurance.

I heard a giggle in the room and it was rather creepy, especially in the dark. I let go of Hale's hand and searched for the light. I heard another giggle and a struggling sound. "Hale?" He didn't answer me. "This better not be a joke." I found the wall and looked for the light switch. Another giggle; I couldn't find the light switch. Normally I'm good in the dark, my eyes adapt better than the average person, but this time I just couldn't find the light switch. I was panicking… just a little. I ran my hand against the wall to search for the switch and then I finally found it. The light was blinding but what I saw was surprising.

Black and White where right in front of me, dressed in all black, a silver mask and…purple wigs? I was thrown off a bit by the wigs, but a muffled sound brought me back to the rest of the picture. Hale was sitting on a chair right next to these girls. Well more like restrained to a chair. I kept my cool although it did disturb me to see Hale tied to a chair. His face showed anger; I hadn't seen Hale get mad like this before. He's normally so calm in most situations, but this time I guess that save guy I know lost it.

The girls in the purples wigs, Black and White, had taken the liberty to break into the mansion and _restrain_ my crew. Gabrielle, Angus, Hamish, Simon and Alex were put to sleep. One of the girls had a smirk while the other one just smiled. That smile seemed familiar; I just couldn't figure out who smiled like that.

"What's the matter Bishop?" One of the girls asked me.

"Bishop?" I tilted my head.

"That is your name right?" she looked at her partner and then back at me, "I was under the impression that your name was Katrina Bishop, unless I've got the wrong mansion, and the wrong hottie." She ruffled Hale's hair and he pulled away from her touch.

"What did you do to my crew?"

"Oh your family?" the girl said, "They're taking a little nap."

"They should be up soon." The other girl said with a smile. I looked at both girls; they were exactly how I had seen them on the video feed. The same crystal point necklace that the Bagshaws saw, the black clothes and the silver masks. The only thing different was the hair. In the video the girls we saw did not have purple hair; rather it was covered in a hoodie or beanie of some kind. Their hair had been tucked away and away from sight.

The girl with the necklace just smiled and the other girl smirked; she seemed like the one that was in charge and seemed more confident than the girl who smiled. "I thought we were going to work together, as a team. You know, to get the crown that Silver wants."

"We know. We're just giving you a small incentive. I'm sure you don't want anything to happen to Hale…" She ruffled his hair and Hale didn't look to happy.

"Or your family." The other girl continued.

"If this isn't convincing enough we can always try another method." She pulled out a knife and twirled it dangerously close to Hale. He tried to move away from the blade but it seemed to follow him.

"No I think you've proven your point. Now do you mind letting him go?"

"Sure but before we get started with this little play date, let me tell you that we're here for our job and nothing else. Attachment for us isn't an option and neither you nor your crew should get too close. You might get burned. Oh and here's your ring. You might need it again." She set the ring on the table. This girl was frowning and serious the entire time. She reminded me of Stacy, but it couldn't possibly be her. Her voice was different but it could be a fake since voices can be changed. Maybe this was the case, but why would she do the job? And if that girl is Stacy, then her partner must Sapphire. They were nice to me before…well to s certain extent since Stacy wasn't too friendly when I met her.

Black and White exchanged a glance as I grabbed the ring from the table. I ignored the glance and put the ring back on my finger. I looked back at Black and White and said, "Could you let him go?"

"Ah, yea I forgot." She came up to Hale and brought her knife up to him. I thought she'd stab him or something, so I stepped closer. The girl turned to me and pointed the knife at me. I took a step back and brought my hands up in defense.

"Do you want me to let him go or not?"

"Yes, but-"

"I'm not going to stab him." She rolled her eyes and turned back around; with the knife she cut the rope. She turned back to me as she put her knife away. "If I wanted to kill him, he'd already be dead, but for now you and your precious family are safe." She walked back to her partner and they shared another glance. I ignored them and walked over to Hale.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I took the gag off of Hale.

He rubbed his wrists and looked up at me with a smirk, "I didn't know you cared so much about me Kitty Kat."

I rolled my eyes, "You're fine."

"I know I am, but so are you." I smacked his shoulder and gave him a stern look. It was no time to flirt. He pulled me down close to him and gave me a hug. "Just hug me Kitty Kat."

I was enjoying the moment, hugging Hale, when Gabrielle woke up. "Uh, what happened?" I quickly pulled away from Hale before Gabrielle saw anything.

"Oh goodie, they're waking up." The girl with the necklace said and she was right. Shortly after Gabrielle woke up so did Simon, Alex, and the Bagshaw brothers.

"Who are they?" Gabrielle asked me.

"Yea they're hot." Angus said; one of the girls giggled.

"We're Black and White." She smiled, "You can call me White and you can call my partner Black." She sounded peppy and a little bit too cheerful.

"Black and White?" Alex said as he got up from a chair and walked towards the girls.

"Yes?" White answered him.

"Long time no see girls."

White giggled and Black said, "I thought you gave all this up?"

"I did, for a year or so. Traveled a lot and found myself pick-pocketing again. I met Kat and her crew that way, and they needed a new member…been here ever since." He shrugged.

"You could have come back you know."

"It's kind of hard to find you two. Black and White a difficult to track and I wasn't going to try and face…well you know."

"Hm well I guess you have a point."

"Wait a second. You know these girls?" Gabrielle asked as she fixed her hair.

"Yea." Alex walked up to White and brushed his hand against her cheek; she giggled. Gabrielle nearly fell out of her chair. I can tell you one thing about Gabrielle. She might not seem like the girl that's sensitive, since she flirts with almost any guy she thinks is hot, but she is rather sanative and I think Gabrielle has a thing for Alex.

"How do you even know them?" Gabrielle snapped.

He shrugged, "It was a long time ago." He looked at White, "You still dating that nerd?"

She frowned, "He's not a nerd."

"So you **are** still dating him."

White was still frowning at Alex, but kept her emotions hidden quite well, "Can we talk about this later? We have a job to do."

Alex grabbed White by the hand and pulled her up to him. "You Promise?"

"Alex, stop. This is no place for this. We'll talk about this later. Okay?" White pushed him away and stepped back. He took a step forward when Black crossed his path and pushed him back. He fell onto a chair.

"Cool it, hormone boy." Black said.

"Wait why are you guys here?" Simon asked.

"They're working with us." I said.

"Why would they be working with us?" Angus questioned.

Alex spoke up, "Let me guess. Silver set this up?"

Black answered, "Yea pretty much; he needs Kat and her crew to do a job for him."

"Why didn't her just have you two do it? What happened to your crew?"

"They couldn't do the job."

"They left?"

"No, only you left Alex." There was a hint of distain in her tone, like she didn't like the he left in the first place. "There was an unfortunate accident on one of the jobs."

"Ah, that bad hu?"

"Yea…"

"Hold up." Gabrielle said, "Who is Silver?"

"I guess more information is in order." Black said as she walked to the center of the group to get everyone's attention. Hamish and Angus hadn't stopped staring at her since they saw her and Black just completely ignored it. "Silver is my boss as well as White's boss. We work for him and he likes things done his way…So he asked Kat to steal a crown that will be on display at the Tenor Museum in about…"

"Five days." White interjected.

"Exactly and now Silver wants all of you to steal this crown while White and I assist you and over see the job."

"Shouldn't we have a say in this?" Hamish asked.

"Yea what's in it for us?" Angus questioned.

Black smiled, "You get to live." Her tone was such a casual tone it was rather chilling.

"Live?" Gabrielle spoke up, "You guys are threatening to kill us?"

"No, Silver is. We're just the messengers." White said with a cute smile on her face, which happens to creep up in the most inappropriate times.

"But if he gives the word…" Black said as she pulled out a…gun?

"Whoa, no need to get over dramatic here. I said, "We're doing this job. I already accepted it, so no one is going to die." I looked at Black, "Could you put that gun away, please?"

She rolled her eyes but put the gun away. Alex smirked, "You still packin'?"

"You know I always do." She smiled and then got serious again, "Anyways, Silver gave Bishop a folder with all the information that we have already gathered. There are also fake ID's for all of you. The only thing that is not in the folder is the new info on the museum's display case, since it's not available yet. We also discovered that there is going to be a large dinner party that Silver and his family have been invited to.

"So you got us a way into the dinner party?" Hale asked.

"We got you two people on the inside."

"Who?" I asked.

"You should know; you met Silver's family." Black answered me.

"Do you mean Sapphire and Stacy?"

"Yes I do know them."

"When did you meet Sapphire and Stacy?" Alex asked me.

"When I met Silver, why?"

"Just asking." He looked at Black, "So what else? You've got the girls inside to get us in?"

"That's up to you guys. You have everything you need to come up with a plan, whether you use it or not is up to you."

"Right, so when are they putting up the display case?" I asked.

"Tomorrow."

I looked at my watch and it was precisely 4:53pm we were short on time as it was and now we had to make one more stop at the museum before the final day. And I had my suspicions oh who Black and White really were, however, I couldn't seem to get them to reveal much about themselves. All I had was the personalities of Stacy and Sapphire to compare Black and White's behavior patterns.

"When exactly tomorrow?" I continued.

"In the afternoon, around four." White answered.

"How much are you going two going to part in this job?"

"As much as possible." White smiled "Any plans you make sure you include us."

"Okay, but how are we going to contact you?"

"Well…" White seemed like she was going to answer when she looked at her phone, "Um Black?"

"What?" Black snapped.

"We have to go; Silver wants us back…now."

"But we're not done here."

"I know that but you know how he can get." White looked at Black, neither of them looked too happy to be going back to see Silver.

"So are you girls coming back?" Simon asked.

"Yea, we will be back." Black answered.

"When?" Gabrielle asked.

"We'll drop by when we're done with what Silver needs us to do" she turned to White, "Let's go."

"Bye everyone." White smiled at all of us with a peppy expression as she said her goodbyes. Black didn't say anything. She just walked out the door and White followed her out after we all muttered out goodbyes. Once they were gone I turned my attention to Alex, who was flirting with Gabrielle. How those two can go back to flirting like nothing happened it beyond me.

"Alex." I said and he didn't answer me so I said it again a bit more loudly this time so he could hear me, "Alex!" He heard me and turned around to face me.

"What?"

"How much do you know about Black and White?"

"Why?"

"It might be good to know more about the people we're working with. Plus you seem to know them on a more personal level…"

"If you're asking me to reveal deep dark secrets, well I'm not doing that."

"No, I just wanted to know who they are."

Alex walked up to me and put his arm around my shoulder, "I'm sure you'll figure it out. You've got all you need to know to figure out who Black and White are."

"I do?" I blinked, "Wait how did you know that's what I wanted to know?"

"Because…everyone wants to know who they are." He let me go, "You and your crew are some of the lucky few who get to meet Black and White in person."

"Lucky?" Gabrielle scoffed, "How are we lucky? Our lives are being threatened."

"But they're hot. " Angus said and Hamish agreed. Simon was silent the entire time and didn't comment at all. I guess he must still have the effect of the tranquillizer he was given.

"It doesn't matter how lucky we are to meet, we just need to get the crown so they can get out of our lives."

"Isn't that a bit harsh Kat?" Alex said.

"No it's not harsh, Alex. I just don't want to get anyone hurt. So if that means getting this done as soon as possible then so be it."

Alex frowned at me, "Well just think about it. You'll figure out who they are. Like I said, you have all the information to figure who black and White really are."

I thought about it and not much came to mind at first. I had noticed how much Black and White's personalities matched Sapphire and Stacy. Also how they guaranteed that Sapphire and Stacy would be on the inside, at the dinner party. The thing that I thought linked them the most to Silver's daughters was how their expression changed when they were called back. It reminded me of when I was at the patio talking to Silver during lunch; his daughters were so tense and looked like they didn't want to be there at all. That same expression that Black and White had just before they left…that's when it hit me. My suspicions were right Sapphire and Stacy where Black and White.

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><p><strong>Love? Hate? Review please. All accepted. :D <strong>

**Thank you to all who have reviewed my story **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Sorry for taking soooo long to update. I had summer school finals... and then I had to type what I had written out, but its finally here! Yay! Please** REVIEW**; tell me what you think. **Constructive criticism is welcome.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the calling card of the mystery thieves. The plot is mine and the calling card is too and any unrecognizable characters.

**So here it is enjoy! ^-^**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: Kat POV<strong>

I looked at Alex in disbelief at my own conclusion. "Are you trying to tell me that Silver's daughters are Black and White?"

He smirked, "Took you long enough." I stumbled back feeling a bit dizzy. It must have been all of this information getting to me. Hale caught me and helped me sit down.

"What are you talking about Kat?" Gabrielle asked me.

"Silver has two daughters, twins actually, Sapphire and Stacy. They're the ones that are supposed to be at the dinner party, remember? Black and White **are** those girls."

"How do you know?" Simon asked.

"Well, I meet them when I talked to Silver and Black and White they several have similarities to Silver's daughters. Plus Alex just confirmed my suspicions and he said they were Black and White."

"He sent his daughters to do his dirty work." Hale scoffed, "What an ass."

"He's more than that Hale, he's—"

"Cruel, evil, the guy you'd never want to be on your side or against you." Alex stated

"That sounds pretty bad." Angus said.

"What is he, a mobster?" Hamish asked.

"No, but he does have power like one." Alex said.

"So why would Black and White even do this job? They were so nice to me." I questioned.

"Let me guess, Sapphire was the one who nice to you?"

"Yea, Alex, How did you know?"

"She's nice to everyone, and always smiles. Stacy is the complete opposite. She's blunt and can be mean. I'm pretty sure she tried to warn you. What did she tell you at the beginning all of this?"

I thought about it for a while, and remembered something. "She told me that she couldn't afford attachments and that we shouldn't get too close." I turned to Alex, "But why would she tell me that?"

"Yea, I thought so…" Alex looked distant and had a slight frown.

"What?"

"They don't want to do this job. So they're trying not to get to friendly and I wouldn't recommend getting too close. It could get dangerous." He frowned like it pained him to talk about this. I wonder how long he was with these girls and why he left their crew.

"How about we stick to what we were given; we need to know what they know and more. We're gonna need the upper hand if we're going to get out of this alive." Hale said.

"Thanks for the positivity Hale." Gabrielle said, her comment dripping with sarcasm.

They all sat down to look at the pictures, blue prints and all the other information that Black and White had given us. All except me; while everyone was busy with the research I slipped out to follow Alex, who had sneaked out a few seconds ago.

"Alex wait." He didn't stop and headed to the front door. "Alex, where are you going?"

"Out." He headed to the front door and it didn't look like he was going to stop.

"Why did you leave Black and White?" I walked up to him. "They were your friends, right?"

"Long story." He turned away.

"Are you leaving us too?"

"No, just need some time to think. Maybe talk to Sapph and Stacy about this whole job… I'll see you later." He walked out.

I followed him out, "Alex hold up." He stopped again and sighed.

"What is it Kat?"

"What's the matter? Why are you so worried?"

He grabbed me by the shoulders, "Look Kat, you don't know how serious this is. Silver is ruthless and could have you all killed if he felt like it. Oh and to make things worse he'll have his daughters do it for him. They won't have any other choice than to do what they are told. I'm going to see what's going on maybe I can get them to **actually** work with us." He handed me a little box, it was small and delicate. Beautifully decorated with small hand painted flowers and it was size of a small jewelry box. "Give this to Gabrielle for me?"

I looked at Alex, "Why don't you just give it to her yourself?"

"More romantic this way?" He shrugged, "I'll be back with Black and…I mean Sapphire and Stacy. Don't wait up for me."

"I'll make sure to tell Gabs not to wait up for you." I winked at him.

He smiled at me and walked up to the car that Marcus had brought out to the front for him. I saw Alex glance back at the mansion as if getting a last look at the place; then he got into the car. He was gone, off to speak to Black and White or at least that's what he told me he was going to do. I headed back inside with the small box in my hands. When I walked in I saw Hale standing there near the window. "Hey." I said to Hale.

"What was that all about?" Hale asked me.

"Oh, Alex left to go talk to Black and White."

"What's that?" He pointed to the box in my hand.

I glanced at my hand; I completely forgot about the box. "Oh, this? Alex gave it to me."

"He gave it to **you**?"

"Yea he asked me to give it to Gabrielle."

"Oh. Alright." He put his hands in his pocket and looked at the floor.

"Are you okay?"

"Yea, let's just go back inside so you can give that box thing to Gabrielle."

Hale walked back to the room and held the door open for me, a habit I'm guessing. He did that quite often lately. "So what did you guys come up with?" I walked over to Gabrielle and handed the box to her when she asked me where Alex had gone. She opened the box and inside was a silver letter 'G' necklace. Gabrielle smiled and put the necklace on setting the box aside.

"Alex said he was going to talk to Black and White." I said.

"Is he coming back?" Gabrielle asked.

"Who left?" Simon asked looking up from his computer.

"Alex left; he said he'd be back and to not worry about him." I looked at Gabrielle, "He'll back." Gabrielle didn't seem too convinced but nodded and went back to admiring the necklace she was wearing.

"Okay" Angus said, "So what's the plan?"

"Alice in Wonderland?" Hamish suggested.

"No time to make a fake." I said.

"Maybe Black and White might have a fake."

"I'm sure if they had a fake they would have done the job themselves."

"Mary Poppins?" Angus suggested.

"No." I shook my head, "We have two people on the inside; we could use that to get in."

"Then what?" Hale asked. "We need a way to get the crown out of the display and get out of the dinner party without getting caught."

"How about Cinderella?" Gabrielle asked. "I make a good Cinderella."

I shook my head, "No it would only work if the case was under a balcony or something similar."

Hale nodded in agreement. "Well its looks like we'll have to go and see the display case. It's the only way to know what we're up against."

"Simon." I said, "Could you get into the museum data base to see what information they have on the dinner party?"

"I'm on it Kat." Simon answered and set to work on what I had asked him to do. I sat down at the table and looked at the blueprints. I stared at them for a while and I couldn't see anything thing that I could use to my advantage. These rooms would be full of people and there would be cameras and more security. I sighed and decided to look at the data report instead. Maybe it'll give me more ideas on how we could pull this off. There was one camera at the door, and two on the ceiling in the lobby area. There's a front desk as well as a security check point. So the front door would not be an option, and it turns out that this security check isn't there on regular business hours. _Okay,_ I thought, _People will be searched upon entry. Metal detectors…the works; maybe the two we have inside might not work. _I couldn't help but frown at my thoughts; this job was getting a bit more difficult by the minute. This is definitely not something I thought would happen.

I was lost in thought when I felt a hand on my shoulder, it was Gabrielle. "What are you thinking about this time Kitty Kat?"

I was looking at the blue prints and it showed three cameras, a security check point, and a few well defined blind spots. "The heist." I answered after about a whole two minutes of thinking. I didn't bother looking up at her I was too… distracted.

"I should have known you'd be thinking about the heist. For a girl who doesn't steal anymore you sure do over think these jobs." I rolled my eyes, but she was right, I was over thinking this. I really don't like agreeing with her. Gabrielle patted my head and I involuntarily flinched. She laughed at me, "You shouldn't be so tense Kitty Kat."

"Yea…" I frowned, "Now, did you come to tell me something? I was reviewing the reports about the museum."

"I know Kat, I saw you." She smiled, "I came to bother that ever so thinking brain to tell you that I have a plan."

"For the heist?" I blinked and looked up at her expectantly.

She smiled at me and pulled me from my seat. "What plan Gabs?" She didn't answer me and dragged me up stairs to the blue room. "What are you doing? We can't play around like this." She sat me down on the bed and smiled at me and it was kind of creeping me out. I had no ideas why she brought me here or why Gabrielle was smiling at me like a weirdo. "Um Gabs, why are you smiling at me like that?"

She sat down next to me on the bed. "Tell me how long?"

"How long? What are you talking about Gabs?" I looked at her and saw her wearing the necklace that Alex had given her.

"How long are you and Hale going to avoid the whole relationship thing?"

I blinked, "What?" I wanted to shout, I hope she doesn't suspect that Hale and I were already a couple.

"Oh come on Kat. I know you two were getting all relationship_y_."

I was really thrown off by this sudden question. She obviously thought that Hale and I had something going on. Or maybe she was acting like this because Alex had gone all romantic on us. Whatever the reason, I wasn't going to tell Gabrielle about my relationship with Hale. It was something both of us agreed on; not till we were ready to tell.

"Well?" Gabrielle asked.

"Oh, I don't know. It's just hasn't happened yet." I was lying of course; I had no intention on telling Gabrielle about my relationship with Hale. Gabrielle didn't catch my lie which I thought was rather strange. Maybe this heist was getting to Gabrielle as well.

"Well if you haven't noticed, Hale seems really worried about you."

"I think everyone is worried Gabs. I mean…Silver told me if we didn't do this job he'd go after the family."

"I know, Black and White told us remember?"

I lay back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. This room sort of became mine; even though it really belonged to Hale's parents. I kind of wished Hale were here, he always knows what to say to me. "You know this job is a whole new kind of crazy."

Gabrielle leaned back on her hands and looked at me, "Yea it is, but this time there is no backing out of it."

I sighed, "Alex told me that this job is more dangerous than I think."

"What did he mean by that?"

"Not sure." I sat up, "We should get back to making a plan."

"Oh, right. Simon and I were thinking about checking the crown's display case tomorrow. Right now Simon is tapping the security system and checking for any new updates."

"What about Angus and Hamish?" I asked.

"The last time I saw them they were arguing about who would try to flirt with Black and White." She giggled. "They're all making a big fuss about it too."

I shook my head, "Are all the boys the same?"

"Ha ha, pretty much." She stood up and looked like she was about to tell me something else, but I never got the chance to hear it because Simon came in running into the room. His hair was messy and his shirt wasn't tucked in. He looked like he just gotten out of a fight.

"They're back." He said; gasping for air as he spoke.

"Who?" I asked.

"Black and White." He said.

"Is Alex with them?" Gabrielle asked eagerly.

Simon shook his head, "No, he's not." Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound down stairs. I looked at Gabrielle and she looked at me. We both ran past Simon knocking him over in the process. I kind of felt bad for running him over; I'm going to have to apologize to him later.

Gabrielle beat me down the stairs, "Get your hands off him!" I heard her yell and then there was another crash.

"He started it." I heard someone answer. I got down stairs and saw Hamish on the floor and Angus on top of him. Black was standing near them and she looked angry.

"What is going on?" I asked, but no one answered me. I looked around the room and saw Hale slouched against the wall. I frowned at the sight of all this… chaos.

"C'mon" White said as she pulled Black away from Angus and Hamish, "just let it go."

Black pulled away from White, "Those little twerps…" She took a step forward and White pulled her back.

"Stop it we're supposed to work with them; not fight them. Now please stop acting like a kid." Black shoved White away and frowned.

I snapped out of my confused stare, but I was still very much confused. "What is going on?" I asked again.

"We had a little…altercation." White said.

"No biggy." Black finished off.

"What do you mean no biggy?" Gabrielle nearly shouted.

Hale slid down the wall he was leaning against and sat on the floor. I ran to him; not really thinking about my actions. "Hale are you alright?"

He looked up at me and nodded, "Yea, noting can keep W. W. Hale the fourth down." I grabbed his face when I notice a bruise forming around his eye. I frowned at the sight.

I stood up and faced Black and White. "What exactly happened?"

"A fight." Black said plainly, "The Bagshaw brothers went a little too far with their flirting. So one thing led to another, Hale got in the way, Simon jumped in; then ran up the stairs, and here we are."

White was frowning, "Please forgive my…partner she's very temperamental."

"I do **not** have anger issues."

"I didn't say that."

Black tackled White and pinned her to the ground. Hamish and Angus got up and out of the way before they were squashed by these… thieves. "Cat fight!" yelled Hamish as he jumped on the couch for a good view. I rolled eyes. These girls were not fighting a typical cat fight with hair pulling and biting. Rather they were using martial arts of various kinds. It was like we were watching a movie such intense fighting. We steered clear of them and eventually they took the fight outside. And like any sane person would…we followed them out, to watch.

By the time I got to the scene. Alex had Black pinned to the ground. It was like he came out of nowhere. The motion was quick and smooth. "Dam it Stacy, what the hell are you fighting about this time?"

She looked up at him and smirked, "Can't remember."

He rolled his eyes, "You really have to stop fighting with Sapph like that."

"Why? Cause you still like her?" She smirked.

"No, we settled that already. You know it." he frowned

"Right," she said "So do you mind unpinning me now?"

"Not yet." He looked at White…I mean Sapphire. "What happened, Sapph?"

"Alex, why are you calling me Sapph?"

He rolled his eyes, "Sapph, Kat figured out who's under those disguises."

"Oh… Well Stacy got mad and started a fight." She shrugged "You know Stacy always fights when she's in a bad mood."

"I am **not** in a bad mood." Stacy said

"Yea you are especially after talking to dad." Sapphire snapped.

"Well, you know what he did!" Stacy yelled.

To say the least I was confused at this point and I'm pretty sure everyone else was too. I know Gabrielle was, she had this piercing look of anger and confusion. She wouldn't keep her eyes off of Alex and Stacy. If I didn't know any better I would say Gabrielle is jealous. So Alex still had Stacy pinned to the ground and he was rather close; I suppose to keep her from getting up.

I zoned out for a moment trying to figure out what Alex and Black… I mean Stacy and Sapphire where talking about. They talked for a while and Alex still had Stacy pinned to the ground while Sapphire talked to Alex. It was strange to see them talk so calmly, as if this happened all the time.

"Could you get off of me **now**?" Stacy asked Alex.

"Not till you promise to keep your cool." Alex said.

Stacy frowned, "How about not fighting Sapph?"

Alex looked at Stacy for awhile then sighed, "Alright." He got up and helped Stacy up.

"Whoa, just like that? You're not going to do anything else?" Gabrielle asked Alex.

"What else is there? She's always starting fights for the smallest of things." Alex answered Gabrielle. "There's not much I can do about it."

"It's true she does. It's a miracle she's still alive; all those fights." Sapphire said as shook her head in disappointment.

Stacy frowned, "Shut up Sapph." She took off the purple wig she was wearing and out came her long black hair; however, she didn't take of her mask "I have temper issues." She straightened out her hair; then pulled off Sapphire's wig.

"Hey, I could have done that myself." Sapphire frowned.

I was surprised, and I could see it on the team's face that they all felt the same way. "So you really **are** Silver's daughters." I said.

"Unfortunately we are." Stacy answered.

Sapphire took off her mask; reveling her face. She smiled at all of us. "Sorry for the inconvenience. It's a job and my sister has issues."

The Bagshaw brothers were muttering something about being even hotter… I rolled my eyes and ignored them. I was holding Hale up, and I hadn't noticed till that moment that he had been using me as a support this whole time. "How about we'll all go back inside and start over?" Sapphire said with a smile, "We can explain everything from the beginning and tell you about the slight change in the plan."

"Change in the plan?" Simon asked.

Both Sapphire and Stacy nodded in perfect unison, must be a twin thing. "Silver made a small change and it's rather important." Stacy said.

Alex walked back to Gabrielle as he brushed past Sapphire. I swear I saw Gabrielle's eye twitch. Once inside, Stacy and Sapphire explained who they were and why Silver had chosen us for the job. Long story short, Silver thought it would be fun to have a different crew do his dirty work.

Then Stacy went on to tell us that she stole the Monet. Hale didn't seem to believe her. "You're telling me that **you** took the Monet? From this mansion, while we were all here?"

"Yea, I stole you're precious painting." Stacy said with a smirk, "And you're not getting it back." Hale got up and walked up to Stacy. She didn't budge from her seat. "What?"

"I'll just have to take it back." He said.

She took out her knife and pointed it at Hale, "I'd like to see you try." She smirked at him and moved the knife away. Then she twirled it before putting it away. "Good luck trying to find it." she said as she patted Hale on the head.

"It's in her room." I said; just to wipe that smirk off her face.

It didn't even phase her, "One less thing you don't know. Now all you have to do is find my room. Oh and Alex can't help you out on this." She said as she picked up the blueprints from the table. Hale sat back down a bit frustrated. The room was silent; the only one that was making noise was Sapphire who was eating an apple. Where did she even get an apple?

Gabrielle probably couldn't take the silence anymore since she stood up and said, "Are you two planning to stay here?"

Sapphire nodded, "Silvers orders."

"Plus it's much easier to make a plan when everyone is present." Stacy said as she set the blueprints down. "Tomorrow we're going to the museum."

"But it's closed for the preparations." Simon interjected.

"Yes I know. Silver got us an all access pass to the museum tomorrow. That's part of the reasons it's closed." Stacy smiled at us. It was like no ordinary smile, which expressed happiness, no that smile was of pure mischievous intent. It was as if she had something planned for us.

"So how are we going in?"

"Through the front door silly." Sapphire said with smile.

"It's a private party." Stacy continued. She used air quotes on the word 'party.'

"What, you don't have friends?" Gabrielle said with a smirk.

Stacy's eye twitched, but instead of lashing out like she did when Hamish and Angus tried to flirt with her, she simply said, "It's a cover, two rich girls and a bunch of friends. The museum doesn't want to make one of their largest benefactors upset, so they'll do anything. I'm sure Hale understands what it's like to get that kind of treatment."

Hale frowned a little bit and picked up some papers. He ignored Stacy for a while as she went on about what we were going to do tomorrow. A few of us were already asleep; it had been a long day so it made sense. Hamish and Angus fell asleep on the floor. Alex had fallen asleep on Gabrielle's shoulder. Simon was working away on the computer trying to gather as much information on the museum. Gabrielle was, well wide awake glaring at Stacy. It was like she had gone into defensive mode, which was something new to me; I've never seen Gabrielle act like this before. It was a bit strange.

After a while Hale got up and left. So now it was just me and the Silver twins. Sapphire smiled at me, "So what do you think about the plan?"

"Sounds like it could work." I glanced at the door.

"What's the matter?" Sapphire asked me. "It's the job isn't it? You know we're sorry about getting you and your crew sucked into this."

"No it's fine." I lied. I mean none of this is 'fine' and I'm pretty sure that there are a few people out there who will agree with me that this is not 'fine'.

"May I ask you something Kat?" Sapphire looked at me with big eyes, or maybe her eyes were naturally that big.

"What?" I replied.

"Did Alex tell you why he left?"

"What do you mean?" I tilted my head.

She smiled at me, "Never mind. You should get some sleep." She got up. "I'm going to go find my sister." I hadn't notice it but at one point Stacy must have left the room. So I got up and followed Sapphire out to help her find Stacy. When we walked out the door, both Sapphire and I saw Hale up against Stacy. He had her pinned to the wall and they were rather close. I had no idea what to think of this so instead of asking like I probably should, I ran out the front door. I needed time to think about all of this, the heist, these girls, what I just saw…everything. I kept running not looking behind me. I could hear Hale's voice in the background telling me to wait and listen, but I didn't and wouldn't, not before I could clear my mind. I just kept running and didn't look back; leaving Hale behind.

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><p><strong>Love? Hate? Review please. All accepted. :D <strong>

**Thank you to all who have you reviewed my story especially rasingdanielle who is a regular reviewer oh and thank you TheLoveHeist for reviewing my story. You're comment made my day. :) As well as the person who left no name. You're ideas are great and I'm considering them. It all depends how I end up writing the story. :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Sorry for taking **soooo** long to update. I was being a bit lazy and then I started up with school again...but its here so Yay! Please** REVIEW**; tell me what you think. **Constructive criticism is welcome and so are any idea you might have. ^-^  
><strong>

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the calling card of the mystery thieves. The plot is mine and the calling card is too and any unrecognizable characters.

**So here it is enjoy! ^-^**

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: Kat POV<strong>

I kept running till I was sure that I had left Hale far behind. I didn't want to deal with him at the moment and figured that I could avoid this conversation by running. It probably wasn't the best thing to do, but I needed time to think.

So I ran.

When I finally stopped running I was in front of a small café. I stared at the café for a while and for the first time in a long I felt like crying. I took a deep breath to hold in the tears and walked into the café. I sat at an empty table by the window. I looked out the window and watched the people pass by. Most of the people outside seemed content or too busy to notice the other people around.

No one even noticed two boys, twins with blond hair, flawlessly pick-pocket a business man. One of the twins was slightly taller than the other by about an inch or two. They were talking to another guy, who looked about sixteen if not possibly seventeen. He had jet black hair and sea green eyes. The three of them talked for a while and the guy with the black hair frowned at what the twins showed him. They walked into and I lost sight of them. One moment they were there the next they were gone.

I looked down at my table and there was a note. I hadn't noticed anyone get close or even pass by my table. I was looking out the window. This time before touching the note I poked it with a rolled up napkin. Nothing happened to it and it's not like the other notes I got exploded or anything, but I didn't want to take any chances this time. Once I determined the note to be harmless, as in it wouldn't blow up in my face, I picked it up. I noticed a symbol in the corner of the letter. I studied it and recognized the symbol to be the Greek letter delta Δ. However before I got the chance to read the note it flew out of my hand. Someone had opened the door and the breeze pulled it out from between my fingers and out the door it went.

I got up quickly to chase the note when I crashed face first into a tall man. I looked up at him and saw a familiar scowl. It was Taccone. I took a step back trying to make sure I wasn't seeing things. He smiled at me and led me back to the table. "It's been so long since I've seen you Katrina." He pulled a chair out for me to sit. I looked at him unfazed.

"I thought you were in prison." I said calmly.

"Like many others." he smiled at me, "Sit please."

I looked at him, "No thank you."

"I insist." He said

"No, thank you I have places to be." I was forced to sit down and I wasn't going anywhere until Taccone said so. I looked out the window ignoring him and for a while neither one of us spoke.

"Katrina, you're so silent today." Taccone said, "You must have a lot on your mind."

"Not really, just came for some coffee."

"But I didn't see a drink."

"I was on my way out you just missed it."

"Hmn, you're in a hurry?"

"No" I said, "but it was nice seeing you again and all, but I have to go."

He smiled at me and seemed rather calm that I was leaving. "Well have a nice night Katrina." Taccone said as he waved me away. I walked away from the table and he didn't follow me. He also didn't send one of his goons to follow me either and I was relieved. I was in no mood to play Hide-n-seek.

I walked out of the café and headed back to the mansion; away from the man that wants me dead. It was rather strange though, and it makes me wonder if Taccone had followed me here or it was just a complete coincidence. Whatever it is, I think I'll play it safe and go back to Hale's mansion.

I looked back just to make sure that I wasn't imagining the whole thing and sure enough he was still there. Taccone and his men were there sitting at the table by the window. So I was pretty sure I wasn't imaging this whole ordeal. As I turned around to keep walking I ran into someone. That someone was Hale. I looked at him and stepped to the side to walk past him; he blocked me. I was in no mood to talk to Hale just yet; especially not with Taccone just a few feet behind me. What if he saw how close I was to Hale? Things could get bad with Taccone around.

I faked a side step to the right and then walked past Hale on the left. "Kat." He said as he grabbed me by the hand. "Just hear me out." I took a deep breath and turned around to face him. I could still see Taccone at the café sipping calmly on some coffee. I shivered a little; Hale took his jacket off and draped me with it.

I didn't feel like arguing with Hale, well maybe just a little, but this not the place for it. So I change the subject. "Taccone, He's at the café."

He looked at me and I looked back at him. I gestured for him to look at the café. Hale looked and blinked. "He's not there Kat; I don't see anything."

"What do you mean he's not there?" I looked back at the café. Taccone was gone, but he was just there but a few minutes ago. Maybe Taccone really wasn't there at the café and I had imagined the whole thing? I was sure that I had seen him there. We even talked…I blinked and said nothing to Hale. I didn't want to sound crazy and I was supposed to be upset with Hale.

"Kat are you okay? You're acting strange."

"I'm fine."

He turned around to face me. "You're not fine Kat." He said to me with a worried expression written all over his face.

I turned away from Hale and walked back to the mansion. He didn't follow me, so I stopped and looked back at him. "Aren't you going to follow me?"

Hale blinked and smiled at me. He walked up to my side putting an arm around my waist, "Are you going to let me explain?"

"Maybe." I said as I moved his arm from my waist.

"It wasn't what you think Kat."

"Okay." I said and kept walking. That's all I was going to give him. Hale was not going to get off that easily.

He grabbed my hand and held it rather delicately, as if I was made of glass. "Kat, what you saw… Stacy set me up; she picked a fight with me." He looked at the floor, "Then she started flirting with me and I don't know how it happened… we just ended up that way."

"Hmn…" I walked a bit and Hale pulled me back. I looked at him, "She didn't kiss you did she?"

"No." he shook his head and pulled me in closer. "Only you, Kat, have touched these lips."

I blushed and looked away. I felt warm in his arms and my sudden anger was melting away. I know, this is probably a cliché but I felt safe in his arms. Hale grabbed me by the chin and lifted my face up slowly. "Hale." I said.

"No Kitty Kat, it's true. You're the only girl for me." He leaned in and gave me a soft and passionate kiss. I closed my eyes and kissed him back. It seemed like Hale's answer to everything was a kiss, but the way he kisses…I don't really mind.

He pull back leaving me wanting more.

"No fair, you cheated." I said.

"But I was only showing you that these lips are only for you Kitty Kat." He kissed my nose.

I blushed, "Of course."

He smiled and wrapped his arm around my waist. He led me back to his mansion. "I'm sorry for upsetting you."

"No, its fine…" I glanced back at the café. The table where I saw Taccone was empty.

"What is it?" Hale asked me.

"Hu?" I looked up at him.

"Why do you keep glancing at the café?"

"Because I saw Taccone at the café."

"Taccone? But I didn't see him there."

I stopped walking, "Yeah he was at the café. He found me there…and we just talked."

"You talked with him?" He looked down at me. "No kidnapping this time?"

"No, we just talked; that's all we did." I started walking and Hale followed. He grabbed my hand and led me to a different direction. We weren't headed to the mansion anymore; however, it didn't seem like Hale was headed in a specific direction either.

After a moment of silence, which was only eight seconds long, Hale looked at me and said, "Why would he just talk to you? That doesn't seem like his style."

I shrugged, "He probably has something planned."

Hale nodded and kept walking; keeping me close. "Kat how about we check out the museum?"

I looked at him and blinked, "You me tonight?"

Hale smirked at me "Is the Kitty Kat afraid of the big bad museum?"

"No! I am not afraid." I kissed his cheek, "Let's just do a walk by."

He led me along towards a small shopping area. "I'll call Marcus."

"Oh, doesn't he know to pick us up?" I smiled thinking about the countless times Marcus knew the exact moment to pick us up.

Shortly after Hale called, Marcus showed up just a few seconds after. "Wow that was fast." I said looking at Hale.

"Very fast." Hale said as Marcus came over to open the door for us. I got in first and Hale got into the limo after telling Marcus to take us to the museum. The drive was short and quiet. I was leaning on Hale most of the ride; looking out the window as he held me. I was rather comfortable this way and I honestly didn't want to get out of the limo. My short moment of bliss was interrupted when Marcus opened the door to let us out of the limo. Hale stepped out of the limo and held his hand out for me, he's such a gentleman; it's rather sweet actually.

We walked down the street to the museum. Marcus parked a block away from the museum, so we were out of sight. As we walked along toward the museum, we looked like the typical couple. Two kids madly in love enjoying a night out. It looked normal except for the fact that it was five in the morning.

I yawned and leaned a bit on Hale, "Need a nap Kitty Kat?" He yawned.

I smirked, "Looks like I'm not the only one who needs a nap."

Hale frowned and blamed it on the fact that yawning was contagious. I let him win that one, but I knew he was just as tired as me. We soon arrived at the museum and it seemed much bigger in person. I looked up at the building before walking over to a bench. Hale and I sat and 'admired' the sky and talked about 'sweet nothings'. In reality we were looking at the museum, casing the place as much as possible.

I set my head down on his shoulder, "It's pretty big don't you think?" I asked, "Maybe we can come in from the ceiling. Snatch and Grab job?"

The breeze picked up and I moved closer to Hale. I looked up at him. Somehow Hale seemed to be impervious to the cold morning breeze. His gaze was firm and set on the upper part of the museum.

"A ceiling job would work, but there's no sky light on the building." He said sounding slightly disappointed.

"What about a Jack and Jill?" I asked

Hale shook his head not looking down at me. "I think it all depends on what the display case has in store for us."

I nodded and watched the stars fade as the sun began to rise in the distance. It was a pretty nice view; that is until I noticed two girls on the roof of the museum. When the sun hit the hair of these two girls it shinned bright purple. I couldn't believe what I was looking at. I blinked to make sure that I was seeing purple hair and not something else. "Hale you saw that right?"

"Yea," He looked at me, "Maybe this job isn't as difficult as we think."

I frowned and got up, "Let's go."

Hale looked at me and somehow I still managed to feel short. He was nearly as tall as me and he was sitting down on the bench. "We're going back?" Hale asked me.

I nodded, "I have some important things to talk about with Stacy and Sapphire." Hale stood up and offered me his arm. I took it and we walked back down the street; back to the limo.

Once we got to the limo Marcus took us back to the mansion. We walked back in and everyone was asleep right where we left them all, except Stacy and Sapphire, who were nowhere to be seen. We set off to find them.

I spent fifteen minutes searching the mansion when I heard a giggle come from the back balcony. I walked over to the balcony and found Sapphire and Stacy eating casually and in full disguise. I didn't bother to hide the fact that I was still upset with them; Stacy a bit more than Sapphire.

"Oh. Hello Kat." Sapphire said with a sweet smile. She took off the wig leaving on her mask. Stacy on the other hand ignored me and continued eating.

"Did you make those?" I said referring to the pancakes they were eating.

Sapphire smiled at me and said, very happily I might add, "No, we bought them."

"McDonald's." Stacy said pointing to the paper bag on the floor.

"Hmn… is that the only stop you made?"

Stacy narrowed her eyes at me. "What are you saying Bishop? That we followed you and your beloved Hale out to the park?"

"We didn't go to the park." I said.

She snorted and stabbed her pancake with her fork. I wonder if she was always this angry or was it what happened between her and Hale? I shook that thought out of my head for the moment and looked at Sapphire. "Did you two go to the Tudor Museum?"

Sapphire blinked and looked at me. She even stopped eating for a moment. "Why?" She asked calmly and then ate again like nothing, but it was obvious I had surprised her.

"Hale and I saw you out by the museum."

"It could have been someone else." Stacy said calmly as she sipped on her coffee.

"On the roof?" I asked.

"Yes, it could have been someone else on the roof." She looked up at me from her food, "And what does it matter if we were on the roof?"

I thought about it and figured it was them on the roof. They had broken into the museum. Maybe they were just checking the place out like Hale and I were. "You were on the roof." I said firmly, "What were you doing on the roof?"

"Our jobs." Stacy said with a glare.

She didn't deny it. They were on the roof on the Tudor museum…wait…what? I blinked, "What job?"

Sapphire smiled at me and Stacy went back to stabbing her food and eating it. "We were checking if the museum had any sky lights we could use. We also hacked into the main security system. We now have access to all video feed in the museum." Sapphire smiled at me rather proud.

"So that means-"

"Yes, we have direct control of the security feed and they don't even know about it." Stacy said rather smug like. "I believe a 'thank you' is in order."

"Che, we'll see. I still have to get that crown." I said.

Stacy shrugged and went back to her breakfast. Sapphire was finished eating a long time ago. She stood up and walked over to me. "Kat you should get some sleep. We leave to the museum at noon." She smiled and seemed very excited about something. "C'mon, let's go." She pulled me along to the blue room. I tried to get out of her grip but she was pretty strong. Considering she wasn't too muscular. She had the build of a gymnast or a dancer but not someone with brute strength. I guess it's from all the fights she gets into with her sister.

Sapphire let my arm go once we were inside of the blue room; still smiling. I looked at her and tilted my head slightly. I couldn't seem to understand why she was so happy and peppy all the time. "What?" She asked me, with a smile, no less.

"Nothing it's just you're always so…"

"Cheerful?" she smiled, "Yea I get that a lot. Mom says it's hereditary. But enough about me, you should get some sleep. I'll wake you up at ten."

I blinked, "Why at ten?"

"We have to get ready for the party, silly."

"What are we going to wear?"

"Oh Stacy and I are still working on that." She smiled and nudged me towards the bed. I walked over and lay down. "Sleep tight." She said to me just before leaving the room. As soon as she was gone I got up and walked over to the window. Hale was outside kicking some rocks.

"Hale." I sad hoping he'd hear me. He didn't. I tried again, but it didn't work. That's when I noticed that he was listening to music, so he wasn't going to hear me. I sighed and just watched him for a while before I felt sleepy.

I yawned and headed to the bed. I didn't know why I felt so tired all the sudden. I normally don't get much sleep when I'm busy thinking about a heist. I lied down on the bed and fell asleep instantly.

The next thing that I remember besides my strange dream of yellow monkeys eating pink bananas was a high pitched scream. I fell out of the bed and ran to the door and out of the room. I headed down stair to where the scream had come from. I found Gabrielle being forced into a sweater. The boys were off to the side messing with their hair. Sapphire walked over to Angus and Hamish and swatted their hands; telling them to not mess up their hair. I looked over at Gabrielle who was gasping for air. She was glaring at Stacy, "Why do I have to wear this nerdy sweater?"

"You're the only one who fits in it. Now go finish getting ready. I still have to-" She looked at me and smiled.

I didn't smile back; after all, Stacy was on my bad side for trying to get at Hale. "What?"

Stacy grabbed some clothes that were off to the side and handed them to me. "Put these on. You've got half an hour to get dressed." Then she just walked over to Sapphire. I looked at the clothes that she gave me. It was a mini skirt and a fancy, very expensive looking, top. It looks like something that would look nice on Gabrielle; something she would wear. I sighed and walked over to the bathroom so I could change. I knocked on the door and Gabrielle opened it. She was frowning.

"This is absolutely dreadful." She said as she fixed her hair. "I look like a nerd."

I looked for a moment and saw what Gabrielle was wearing, a sweater vest over a white blouse and a knee high skirt.

"You look fine Gabs." I shuffled passed her. "We have to do this remember?" I slipped in behind the shower curtain and got dressed.

Gabrielle said, "I know, I know."

After I got dressed, I came out from behind the shower curtain pulling on my skirt. I was trying to make it reach my knees but it wasn't working. Gabrielle looked at me and smiled.

"Wow, Kitty Kat, you look nice in a mini skirt."

I frowned and walked over to the mirror so could fix my hair. "Could you stop staring and help me fix my hair?"

Gabrielle smiled and worked her magic. She curled my hair and made it all bouncy with "volume". During that whole time Gabrielle fixed my hair, she talked about how Hale and I should hook up and go on a date already. It was making me rather uncomfortable talking about it and Gabrielle noticed. But she simply passed it off as me feeling awkward about the whole Hale situation. She believed it was because I liked and wanted to date Hale, but Gabs is one step behind…since I'm already dating him.

So when Gabrielle finished she smiled at me and said, "There, now Hale will have a pretty Kitty Kat to flirt with."

I blinked and blushed. Gabs laughed at me and applied her makeup. Once the both of us were done getting dressed for the part we walked back to the room where everyone would be waiting for us. As we entered the room the guys all looked at me, even Hale. I felt a little annoyed; we went through this once before and noting had changed about me since.

Angus looked at me and said, "Yup, definitely a C cup." I rolled my eyes and walked over to Hale. I looked at him and he looked nice in the outfit that he was wearing.

Hale was staring at me.

I waved my hand in his face, "Hello, earth to Hale. Can you hear me?"

He blinked, "You look…"

"Different?"

"Yeah, but I was going to say nice."

"So you don't always think I look nice?" I teased.

"You look nice in anything and everything you wear" He smiled at me and I smiled back.

Shortly after, Sapphire and her sister came into the room dressed in mini skirt and cute tops. They sure know how to play the part of the spoiled rich girls. They seemed to have the arrogance for it too. "Okay everyone." Sapphire said with a smile, "We're all rich kids. We got the chance to see the jewels and crown…or were promised to anyways."

"The museum will deny all of this of course." Stacy said.

"So Stacy and I will make a tantrum while the 'friends' act bored and wander off; splitting the guards' attention in the process. That's when Kat will check the case. Does everyone understand?"

Everyone nodded; it seemed pretty clear what we had to do. "What about our identities? They'll see our faces." Hale questioned.

"Right," Stacy said, "No need to worry about that. We have full control of the cameras and the security system. Sapphire showed Simon what to do."

Hale nodded and then went straight back to organizing his things. We spent the next fifteen minutes eating a quick breakfast and discussing the roles we were to play at the museum in more detail. Then we all went outside and got into the limo. Stacy and Sapphire had Simon work surveillance. Alex was the on the inside with us, which was a bit strange since Alex was always outside working surveillance. Gabrielle would be a distraction and flirt with one of the guards. Angus and Hamish would run around the museum. Stacy and Sapphire would start a fight and Hale and I would look for the case.

The ride to the museum seemed much longer this time. I looked out the window watching the buildings pass by. Hale was sitting next to me and Stacy was next to him, which I didn't really like. Sapphire was sitting across from Stacy. Alex was sitting next to Sapphire and they were talking about 'old times'. Every time Sapphire giggles Gabrielle would glare. The Bagshaw brothers were sitting on the other side staring at Stacy and Simon was daydreaming.

I was minding my own business when Hale suddenly said, "They're looking at you Kitty Kat."

"Who?"

"Hamish and Angus are starting at you."

"No, why would they?"

"Maybe it's because you look beautiful." Hale whispered.

"Hale… not here."

He leaned in a bit and said, "But it's true you are beautiful."

"Thanks." I said then I changed the subject, "Shouldn't we have changed the license plate on the limo?"

Stacy turned to me and said, "I already did." She smiled like Sapphire, a kind and sweet smile. "They're of an out of state limo rental service."

"That's still traceable." Hale smirked.

"They're duplicates of another limo. We're not that traceable." She leaned back. "We're safe."

Hake nodded. I felt better since Stacy didn't seem to be hitting on Hale anymore. We approached the museum only moments after this discussion. Marcus opened the door for us and we all stepped out of the limo. "You all know what to do right?" Stacy asked.

"Yes, we're not beginners you know." Gabrielle said with distain.

"Alright then, let's go and have some fun." Stacy said ignoring Gabrielle's comment. Everyone, except for Simon walked up to the museum. He walked into a different direction. Once at the entrance Stacy knocked and almost instantly someone opened the door to let us in. By the looks on the face of the man who opened the door, he was not happy to be letting in a bunch of kids into his museum on one of the biggest days.

The day the jewels and the crown arrive at museum.

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><p><strong><strong>Love? Hate? Review please. All is accepted. :D <strong>**

**Thank you to all who have you reviewed my story**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Sorry for taking **soooo** long to update. I was dealing with school again and then writers block...but its here so Yay! Please** REVIEW**; tell me what you think. **Constructive criticism is welcome and so are any idea you might have. ^-^  
><strong>

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the calling card of the mystery thieves. The plot is mine and the calling card is too and any unrecognizable characters.

**So here it is enjoy! ^-^**

* * *

><p>Chapter 9 Kat POV<p>

The man who opened the door for us was the curator. I instantly recognized him from the information file that Silver had given us. He had an obvious scowl as he motioned us into the museum. "This way." he said.

"Are you going to take us to see the jewels?" Sapphire asked.

"What?" The curator said, sounding surprised and slightly dazed.

"The jewels, are you going to show us the jewels?"

The curator stopped in his tracks and looked straight at Sapphire. "I'm sorry miss but there are no jewels here and they are not for the public to see."

"What? That's contradictory." Stacy said. "My father, a large benefactor to this museum, would not be happy if his daughters were not allowed to see the jewels."

"And you can say goodbye to the donations our father makes." Sapphire added. Stacy gave us the signal and we wandered off. Angus and Hamish went to cause chaos, while Gabrielle flirted with one of the younger guards. Alex didn't seem too happy about the flirting she was doing, but I guess he understood it was just a role she was playing. Hale and I walked down the hall in search for the display case. I could hear the tantrum from down the hall. Stacy screaming "How dare you refuse" and "My father will hear about this!"

We walked farther down the hall and we couldn't hear them anymore. Most of the hall was empty and I suppose it was due to the fact the jewels were arriving soon. Or maybe it could have been due to the fact that there are teens running around the museum unsupervised, but whatever the reason Hale and I got a clear shot down the main hall. I sure hoped that Simon had worked the camera so that we wouldn't be seen.

Hale and I turned the corner; there were two guards there. Suddenly I was pulled back. I yelped in surprise. "Shh." Hale said, "It's just me Kitty Kat."

I hit him, "Don't do that. You scared me."

"Oh don't be such a 'fradey Kat." He smirked.

I changed the subject a bit, "How are we going to get past them? The case is in the room down the hall."

He looked over my shoulder and around the corner. He was silent for a moment then said, "Follow me." He ran out to the guards screaming about a fire.

"Hale…" I said before I followed his lead. I sure hoped he knew what he was doing. I ran out into the hall and up to the guards. I hugged one of them. "Save me! There's a fire!" As I hugged the guard I swiped his key card from his pocket. It was a clean swipe; he didn't even notice. I didn't want to get too rusty; Uncle Eddie would be proud.

Hale cleared his throat, "What I can't save you?"

"Can you fight fire?" I said.

"I could." He replied with a pout. I let the guard go and hugged Hale. He smirked like he'd just won a prize.

The guards looked at us like we were crazy and just playing a prank. I frowned at the guard. "Well aren't you going to help or at least call the fire people?" I asked as I held on to Hale. The guards looked at each other, considering the possibility that we were in fact telling the truth. "Go!" I yelled.

The guards ran down the hall when there was a loud screech, "Fire!" Someone had started a fire and my guess would be Hamish and Angus. They'd blown something up and started a fire. I really hoped that this museum didn't shut down and cut down the oxygen like the Henley. As soon as all the guards where gone I opened the door to the storage room. I pulled Hale inside and closed the door behind us.

"This place is big." I said.

"Like Indiana Jones big."

"What?" I looked at Hale. "What are you talking about?"

"You know, the place Indiana Jones sends all those artifacts, the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Arch?"

I looked at him in disbelief. "You have too much free time Hale." I said, "Now let's go before we run out of time."

Hale nodded and didn't argue with me. He did in fact have too much time, especially before we met. His parents are never home so he must have done something to keep himself entertained. Apparently Hale isn't just buff, he's a movie buff too.

We walked through the warehouse of the museum. Granted it wasn't as big as Hale says it is. It's probably the size of a small warehouse or near that size. There were large crates of artwork and artifacts that weren't on display and were going to be sent to another museum. If I were a common criminal I would have taken this opportunity and stolen the paintings and artifacts from the crates, but I'm nothing but an _uncommon_ criminal.

I smiled at the thought of only stealing for a good reason and not on just pure impulse. I'm sure the twins, Black and White, would have stolen the things in the museum warehouse. They seem like the type to steal on impulse. My smile quickly faded at the memory of Stacy trying to flirt with Hale. Goodness, does she have to make a move on him while I'm around? Granted I didn't want her to make any move on Hale even when I'm not around.

"Are you okay Kitty Kat?" Hale asked me.

His question helped me snap out of my thoughts. "I'm fine Hale." I said I we turned the corner. "Let's just find the case and get out of here."

I grabbed Hale's hand and lead him down the path of crates. I couldn't seem to find the case for the jewels. _Darn it _I thought. _Where is it? _

Hale must have seen my frustration when he suggested that we split up and search for the case. "I don't know Hale. We don't have time to split up." I responded.

"If we don't split up well run out of time and get caught." He said, "We'll be able to cover more ground if we do split up."

I pondered this for a moment and finally agreed, "Okay then. We can split up." I went left and Hale went to the right. I didn't like the idea of splitting up. The last time we did that we almost got caught in the act, but he had a point we had to split up to cover more ground since we were running out of time.

I kept pace and counted my steps. I was 145 steps from the moment Hale and I parted ways to the moment I found the case. I nearly crashed into it. I couldn't believe that I didn't see it but I was rather excited because I did. _I found it!_ I thought as a jumped a bit. _Okay, just keep your cool and check the case._ I assured myself; then ran my hand along the base of the case. There was a small latch at the bottom. We could just take the jewels from the bottom. Just like the Italian Job. Hale would agree with me, and then tell me that it's a good movie. I smiled as I thought of Hale's quirkiness. I really do like that guy; Hale means so much to me.

I ran my hand around the case as knew we couldn't drill through it. It was the thickest glass I've come across. It was double glass and bullet proof, shatter proof. I knew this was going to bring more trouble. I saw the sensors on the inside and instantly recognized them. They were motion sensitive and top of the line Malcolm 600s. The most sensitive there is and the priciest.

I looked closer and saw heat sensors. _Great, _I thought, _more trouble. _Those would be tough to deal with. I took a mental note of all of this, and pulled out a miniature camera and snapped a few picture of the case just to be on the safe side. I have to be on the safe side. I had to get this job done for my crew.

"Five minutes to get out Kat." Simon called through the com unit. I jumped and took a deep breath. I nearly dropped the mini camera.

"Okay, thanks for the update Simon."

"Is everything alright Kat? You sound jumpy."

"Never been better," I replied, "now call Hale and tell him to meet up at the limo."

"He's not with you?"

"No," I said, "We split up to cover more ground."

"Oh," Simon said "why didn't you just call him?"

"Because you called me first, now if you can tell Hale to meet me at the limo."

"Will do Kat."

"Just make sure Hale gets back to the limo." I said and took a few more pictures and double checked the case. I didn't see anything else on or in the case. It was top of the line, sure, but it had its flaws. Every security system has its flaws. They have glitches and ways to get past. If every security system was perfect then there wouldn't be thieves.

As a matter of fact the Malcolm 600 has tons of glitches. I suppose that's why there were other attachments to the case such as the heat sensors. In a matter of moments my mind was forming plans and ideas on how to get the jewels, which was perfect.

I was making my way out of the warehouse when I saw two guards…employees walking by. I hid behind a crate. It was strange, they weren't dressed like employees and they didn't look like guards either. I peeked around the corner and saw about four guys talking in hushed tones; they were wearing suits. I tried to listen as close as possible to what they were saying. I made out a few words. Something about looking for something, or was it someone? I couldn't tell.

I'd have to practice reading people's lips. That's the next thing on my things to improve, right after dancing. I have two left feet. It's kind of embarrassing actually and Hale loves to try and make me dance. He knows I can't; yet he insists that I dance with him.

I stared at the men trying to read their lips. I was deep in concentration when someone pulled me back covering my mouth. I yelped but my voice was muffled. This person had a tight grip on me and was pulling me further away from the men in suits. I struggled to get out of this person's grip. I was pulled behind a large crate when I heard a soft whisper. "Shh, it's me Kitty Kat."

I relaxed and knew it was only Hale. He let me go and I faced him. "Why did you do that?"

"I'm sorry, but I had too. Taccone's men are in here."

"What?" I said as I tried to process this. "Are you sure?"

He nodded, "I heard it myself. They were talking about him."

"It must have been those men I was spying on. They were looking for something."

"Or someone" Hale added, "We have to get out of here now Kat."

I nodded, "Well how are we going to get without being seen?"

Hale was silent for a moment. He turned his head and then pulled me close to him; two men in suits passed by us. Goodness these men were everywhere. Taccone must really want to catch me and my crew. We waited till the men had passed and were at a distance before we walked down the aisle of crates. Hale stopped behind a crate and I looked over his shoulder. There were several men in suits on the other side of the crates. The men had grouped together and were talking; I could hear the conversation they were having.

"She's here. Her crew is inside." A tall man said.

"But she's not out there with her crew." Another refuted.

"She's the leader of the crew, remember. She has the big jobs. Now split up and find her. The boss wants her…not the crew."

I looked at Hale; he seemed worried and a bit pale. I couldn't believe it. He seemed scared for a split second. I've never seen him like this before, or at least I never really noticed if he did. I was always bad with dealing with boys unlike Gabriel. It still amazes me how she managed to be…noticed by guys.

Hale turned to me and grabbed my hand. He led me down a different path. Hale didn't say anything and just held my hand as he led me down a different direction. It made me a bit nervous to see Hale so troubled. He seemed determined to get out and it was way past the five minute window.

Then I realized it, it had been precisely seven minutes. Why hadn't Simon checked up on us? I stopped and pulled Hale aside with me. "What is it Kat?" He glanced sideways as if checking to see if we were being followed.

"Simon hasn't called to check up on us."

"So?"

"Hale," I said, "Simon called me earlier and said that we only had five minutes to get out of the warehouse. It's been at least seven minutes, Hale." Hale looked at me like there was nothing wrong with that. "What if he can't?" I asked.

Hale grabbed my shoulders, "Kat, everything is going to be alright. We'll get out of the warehouse. The com units probably just ran out of battery." He reassured me though he didn't sound too convinced of his own words.

I wasn't too sure if I completely believed him about the communication device running out of batteries either. It's not like Simon to be so careless and let the batteries run out. I looked at Hale and then pulled him close and turned the corner. I hugged him.

"Hale, what if we get caught? What if Simon got caught?"

"No one will get caught." Hale said "Not while I'm here." He kissed my cheek and grabbed my hand. He led me towards the exit; making sure we weren't seen. I heard footsteps coming toward us, so I pulled him into a different aisle behind a large crate.

Someone passed by. This was so difficult. I felt like a trapped spy. I mean when do thieves ever get this trapped by the enemy? As a matter a fact thieves don't necessarily have enemies, they have competition. I suppose the only enemies a thief would have would be the cops, but the cops wouldn't try and kill us on the spot. No, I definitely felt like a spy caught in a predicament and surrounded by enemy spies. It would be good to be a spy right about now. That way Hale and I could fight our way out.

I held Hale close till I felt that the coast was clear; then I let him go. "Hale we're not going to get out of this so easily. We might have to split up again."

Hale frowned, "No Kat, I'm in this with you and I will always be." He pulled me in and gave me a short but very passionate kiss. I nearly lost my footing, but Hale kept me standing. "We have to keep moving Kat, before they find us."

"Yeah…"Hale led me down the aisles of crates; they felt endless. He seemed to know where he was going and seemed pretty determined to get us out. I felt like I was in a maze; perhaps this warehouse was Indiana Jones big...or maybe we were just lost. Hale and I dodged several guards but it felt like they were blocking every path and every entrance we tried to take. I was starting to think Hale was getting desperate.

We turned the corner and ended up in a dead end. "Dam it." Hale said.

"Maybe it was a left." I said trying to bring Hale's hopes up.

"No we went left already." He said. "I wish Simon were here to tell us where to go."

I thought for a moment. "Wait maybe he can."

Hale looked at me, "What are you talking about? You told me the com units didn't work anymore."

"I know, but I have a plan." I walked off and took a left even though Hale had told me we had already gone in that direction. I was pretty sure we hadn't. Men can be so stubborn sometimes when it comes to directions. It's like telling them to put on a dress, they just won't do it… yeah that's probably not the best metaphor but it's true all the same. It's rather ridiculous how they just refuse to ask for directions or admit defeat.

I sneaked around the crate making sure that I wasn't seen; Hale was close behind me. I walked to the nearest live case. Meaning it was fully wired and would go off if someone tampered with it. I'd have to bring the attention to the warehouse in order to cause a distraction.

"Where are you going Kat?"

"Hold on; you'll see." I adjusted my gloves making sure they were properly on. I didn't want to leave any fingerprints behind. That would be bad.

"Kat what are you gonna do?"

I turned to Hale and took off my glove; I touched his face, "Stay here. I have a plan but you have to be right here for it to work okay?"

"What are you talking about Kat?"

I slipped on my glove. "I'm going to distract Taccone's men."

"What?" Hale exclaimed.

I covered his mouth, "Shh not to loud Hale."

He moved my hand and frowned at me, "No Kat, you can't do that. They'll go after you."

"I know Hale, and that's when you'll escape." I smiled at him, "Plus, I'll be out of harm's way when the museum's security guards arrive."

"Kat don't do it."

"I'll be fine Hale." I smiled at him before slipping away and making my way to the case. I crept my way through some crates to get closer to the live display case….well I hoped the case was live. It would be terrible if it wasn't. I was right in front of the case when my mission was cut short. Someone grabbed me from behind and lifted me up. I yelped and kicked, knocking over the case I was planning to set off. I heard the alarms blare as the display case crashed on the ground. I was happy that my plan was working…well sort of.

I squirmed to get out of this man's grip and even bit the guy's arm so he'd let me go. I think I'd need to enroll in some kind of defense class; it doesn't hurt to be prepared. I took my chances and started screaming. Sure this would blow my cover but it was better than ending up with Taccone. While I was kicking and screaming and the man just carried me away.

I hate being of a petit stature.

The next thing I know, I'm on the floor and being helped up. I looked at the person who was helping me up and it was Hale. He'd come to my rescue. The light shined on him in just the perfect way. He looked like the perfect hottie…I mean hero. Hale saved me. I smiled at him and for a moment the world froze and it was just us. I would have loved to stay in this blissful moment where it was just Hale and me; however, I was pulled out by this sweet blissful moment by sheer force. Hale pushed me away while he was grabbed by one of the larger men. I fell into some cardboard boxes.

"Hold him." I heard someone say.

"Don't let him go; restrain him." Another ordered.

I sat up and tried to dig myself out of the cardboard boxes. "Hale!" I screamed. The only thing I could hear from Hale were muffled sounds.

"What about the girl?"

"Forget her. The boss will get her with this." I heard a struggling sound. Anger coursed through me. Hale was not an object, he was my boyfriend and he was being taken.

"Hale!" I screamed as I came out of the boxes; only to find out that I wasn't inside of the museum warehouse. I was in the dumpster. Hale had pushed me down the trash shoot and I hadn't noticed. "Hale! No!" I tried to climb back up the shoot to find him.

The trash shoot was big enough for a small person but small enough to climb up it. If I could free climb a wall I was sure I could climb up this trash shoot. As I made my way up, I lost my gripping. It was very slippery in there. I assumed they didn't just throw out cardboard boxes down this trash shoot.

I fell down the trash shoot scraping my arm against the metal walls in the process. I landed on the boxes once again. I couldn't help but feel utterly useless. Hale had saved me from being caught by Taccone. He sacrificed himself to keep me safe…

I hit the cardboard boxes in anger. Then I got up and attempted to make my way up the trash shoot again. I started to cry, "Hale…Hale…No." I couldn't keep myself together and I fell back into the trash, the dumpster full of cardboard boxes. My arms were all scratched up from falling down the trash shoot a third time. I couldn't believe it. Hale was gone and there was nothing I could do.

I sat in the trash for a few seconds till I heard voices around the corner. I looked up expecting it to be Hale. Immediately I got out of the dumpster and ran around the corner. All I saw was a black van driving away. I was too late. He was gone…Hale was gone.

I looked to see the license plate number on the vehicle but there was no license plate. But it didn't matter because I knew who had Hale and it was a matter of time till I received a summoning from Taccone. I looked down the street and wiped my tears away. I could not afford to cry right now, I had to get this job done and I had to find Hale. I walked to the other side of the museum. The limo was gone and I didn't see anyone inside of the museum. I needed time to think so I walked back to the mansion.

So many questions ran through my mind. How could I have made such a terrible call? Why wasn't I able to help Hale when he needed me? Where did they take him? What does Taccone want with me now? And last but not least why hadn't my crew waited for us? I didn't make any sense to me. The crew wasn't the type to bail. They always stuck to the end. We are family. I tried to shake off the thought that something bad had happened and kept walking to the mansion.

It took me a whole half an hour to get back but I didn't really mind. It helped me clear my mind just a bit. As I approached the mansion I saw that the limo was a bit dented. The sight of the limo made my heart skip a beat. I rushed inside to see if everyone was alright. The door to the mansion was unlocked which was strange. I ran inside and check the main room. There was my crew. They looked a bit battered. "Are you guys alright?" I asked as it set in.

Gabrielle was cleaning a wound on Alex's arm, while Hamish and Angus were cleaning their faces. Simon was on the computer. They all turned and looked at me. Gabrielle got up and ran to me. She gave me a hug, "Are you okay?" Then she let me go and looked at my arms. "What happened, Kat? Where's Hale?"

I looked down at the ground. I didn't know how to tell them Hale had been taken. "Where are Sapphire and Stacy?" I asked.

"Up stairs," Alex said "Sapphire got hurt in the explosion. Stacy is up there with her."

"What explosion?" I said looking up at the crew.

"Apparently there was a faulty gas line and when Hamish and Angus were messing around the line exploded. We were all evacuated."

"Didn't you get the notice?" Gabrielle asked.

"No" I said, "Our com units stopped working. It must have been the explosion." I rubbed a scratch on my arm. It was bleeding a bit more than I thought it would.

"Let me see that." Gabrielle grabbed my arm and the led me to the couch. She started cleaning me up. "Kat you smell like…"

"…Like I was in a dumpster?"

"Uh yeah."

"I was." I said plainly. I couldn't stop thinking about Hale and I'd have to tell my crew what happened eventually.

"What were you doing in a dumpster Kitty Kat?" I looked at the ground and didn't answer her. "Kat what's wrong? What happened?"

I frowned.

"Kat where is Hale?" Alex asked me.

"He's gone." I said.

They all turned and looked at me. "What?" Gabrielle yelled at me.

I flinched, "We were being chased by Taccone's goons and he saved me, but—"

"Taccone?" Angus asked as he set down his towel.

"Wasn't he in jail?" Hamish questioned.

"No. Not anymore anyways." I said.

"Wait, who's Taccone?" Alex asked.

I was about to answer but Gabrielle decided that she would answer for me. She squeezed my arm a bit as she spoke, which kind of hurt. "Taccone was the guy I told you about. You know the guy who threatened to harm Kat's father for the missing paintings. That's were Romani comes into play."

It'd been so long since I've dealt with anything Romani related I nearly forgot about him, whoever he was. "Ah I remember," Alex said, "but you said he was sent to prison."

"He was, but apparently he's back."

"So what happened to Hale?" Simon asked as he looked up from his computer. He looked a bit perplexed himself. I suppose he was trying to figure out what had gone wrong with the com units.

I looked down again as I answered, "They took him. They have Hale." I looked up and looked at my crew. They were all silent and in shock.

"They took him? As in the men who worked for Tacoone?" Gabrielle asked.

"Yeah, Taccone has Hale." I tried so hard not to cry but my eyes got watery. I got up and walked to the balcony. No one followed me out. I suppose they knew I needed time to think. I was alone; out there for quite a while when I hear a thump right behind me. I turned and saw Stacy getting up. Did she just jump down from the second floor?

"You're hurt." She said.

"Oh, it's just scratches. I'll be fine."

She looked at me as if trying to figure out what was wrong with me. "Are you…okay?" It sounded a bit awkward coming from her but I could tell that the question was a genuine question.

"Yeah…" I looked up at the sky.

There was silence for a moment. I'm guessing she was still trying to figure me out. "No. Something is wrong. I can feel it."

"I'm fine Stacy…just leave me alone will yah?"

"…Alright but if you need anything I'll be upstairs with Sapphire. She got hurt pretty badly." I heard her footsteps as she turned to go back inside. I didn't stop her I didn't accept her help. I was upset.

Hale was gone and we all knew it was a matter of time before things got worse.

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><p><strong><strong>Love? Hate? Review please. All is accepted. :D <strong>**

**Thank you to all who have you reviewed my story. And special thanks to girltalk138 for the review it gave me motivation to finish chapter 9.  
><strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Sorry for taking **soooo** long to update. I was dealing with school again...tests And then this chapter was driving me a bit insane since I couldn't seem to get it finished, but its here so Yay! Please** REVIEW**; tell me what you think. **Constructive criticism is welcome and so are any idea you might have. ^-^  
><strong>

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the calling card of the mystery thieves. The plot is mine and the calling card is too and any unrecognizable characters.

**So here it is enjoy! ^-^**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10 Kat POV<strong>

I was looking at the sky; watching the sun set. I hoped that was okay and looking at the sunset as well. I really missed him. I didn't think it was possible for me to feel this alone. Not to mention that I feel terrible for messing up the plan and getting him caught. It makes me want to leave the crew behind and finish this job on my own. I can't put them at risk, but I know that they won't leave me. They'll follow me on whatever crazy heist I go on. It makes me feel a bit more comfortable knowing that I have my crew to back me up. They're the best, but it's tough to do these jobs when they're at risk. It makes me rethink my choice as a thief...

I'm not a common thief; I steal for the good and not for the bad. What I do is completely uncommon for a thief, but I can't say that I don't love it. I smiled at the memory of the first time Hale and I met. I was supposed to steal the Monet that was in Hale's mansion, the one Stacy and Sapphire stole just before I got tangled in this mess. Hale was home when he wasn't supposed to be and from that moment on we kind of just hit it off. Sure it took us a long while to realize the feelings we had for each other, but I knew from the moment that I saw Hale that he was something different.

I'd have to make a plan to get Hale back, but I have to get _this_ job done in two days. I couldn't risk it…and there's no way that I could get Hale back in two days. I had no idea of where he might be. The only thing I do know is **who** has him but not **where** he is.

All this worrying about Hale was giving me a headache, and I needed a clear head to get this heist right. It feels terrible having to put Hale aside but it has to be done. I know Taccone won't make a move till he tell me first that he has Hale. Till then I'll have to wait it out, no matter how hard it might be.

I looked at a small star that was shining bright in the sky. The sun was still setting but I could see it so clearly in the sky. I nearly cried looking at it. Hale got me that star as a month-aversary gift and named it Kitty Kat. It was the sweetest gift I'd ever gotten. Hale just knows how to make me smile.

I was lost in thought when I heard a loud crash inside. I turned to the sound of yelling. I ran back inside. I saw Stacy and Gabrielle arguing; there was a broken vase on the floor. I don't think it was one of those priceless vases or at least I really hope it's not. Hamish and Angus were still trying to clean their faces off. Simon was looking at Gabrielle as she argued with Stacy. Alex wasn't in the room and Hale…oh right, he's gone.

"It was your idea to have a stupid party at the museum!" Gabrielle yelled.

"You're making it seem like I planned for Hale to go missing." Stacy responded

"No, I don't think Stacy would hand Hale over to Taccone…or at least she wouldn't turn us into such a dangerous man." I interrupted.

"Kat, you can't be siding with her! Her father threatened to kill us if we don't pull this job off." Gabrielle gave me a hurt look like I had just backed stabbed her. I know I was technically siding with the enemy, but there was no way she would ruin the job. It doesn't seem like it would be her style.

"I'm doing my job and my job does not include messing it up. You guys aren't the only people on the line here." Stacy snorted, "You just needed someone to blame for what happened."

"You did not just imply that Kat was to blame for Hale's kidnapping."

"You said it; not me." She smirked and Gabrielle glared back. "Just admit it Gabs, you really think Kat was to blame."

Gabrielle was silent. I looked at her and she looked away. "See there's your answer everyone. Your sweet Gabrielle thinks its Kat's fault."

"I do NOT think that!" Gabrielle yelled, "You better shut the fuck up."

I blinked. I've never seen Gabrielle so angry before. Come to think of it, I've never heard her curse before. The boys were silent, they probably didn't want to get into this argument and I totally agree with them. It's getting bad fast between these two girls.

Stacy laughed, "Or what Gabrielle? You gonna give me fashion tips?"

Gabrielle looked offended, "You need the fashion tips. I mean who does the whole bad girl look anymore? You're outdated."

Stacy just continued to laugh, "You're hilarious Gabs." She wiped a tear from her face, "You made me cry."

I looked at Gabrielle and she looked ready to punch Stacy's lights out. I walked over to her and said, "Don't do it Gabs, she's not worth it."

"It was her fault! She made Hale disappear. I overheard her talking on the phone. I heard her say she had a plan and that someone would disappear. It was her fault Hale was kidnapped!"

I turned to Stacy, "Is that true? You said someone would disappear?"

Stacy wiped the rest of the tears away and looked straight at me, "Yeah I did say that, but—"

"See!" Gabrielle shouted, "She admitted to it. It's her fault."

"Will you fucking let me explain myself? God, damn Gabrielle, you're such a prick." Stacy snapped. Gabrielle got silent and looked at the floor. She didn't look too happy, but Stacy's tone was something different. She was demanding but firm and I've heard it only once before, the day I met Silver.

"Look Kat, I didn't set you guys up; that phone call Gabrielle overheard had nothing to do with you guys."

"Well who did it have to do with?" Angus asked. Everybody nodded; we all wanted to know what that call was for.

"I can't tell you." She looked at the floor, "But I assure you that I did not plan Hale's disappearance. You have to trust me on this."

"I don't know Stacy…" I said skeptically.

"Kat, you've meet my father. You know I can't mess this up."

"Well then, who was the call for?"

"I can't tell you that. It's another job my father gave me yesterday."

"You're lying. You're working for Taccone." Gabrielle stated; she just won't let go of her suspicion of Stacy. "And you know what? I bet her sister isn't even hurt."

"Don't you **dare** bring my sister into this." She sneered, "Thanks to your wonderful explosive techs my sister is unconscious and seriously burned. So back of Gabrielle or I will rip you to shreds."

"Bring it rebel wanna be. I'm tired of you anyways."

"Gabrielle don't." I said.

I turned, looking for Hamish and Angus. They were nowhere to be seen. Where could they have gone? When I turned back around I saw what I really didn't want to happen. Gabrielle and Stacy were fighting.

Stacy was on her back and Gabrielle was hitting Stacy with all she had. Stacy on the other hand was just playing defense; covering her face up. Her arms where scratched up and bloody from Gabrielle's sharp nails. She kept hitting Stacy till Stacy pushed her off. Gabrielle yelped as she crashed into the side of the coffee table.

"Stacy, stop it!" I yelled but it did no good because Stacy got up and grabbed Gabrielle; pulling her up and then slamming her down onto the coffee table. "Gabs!" I ran to pull Stacy away from my cousin. Simon did the same. Stacy just pushes us all aside like we were weightless. It must have been the adrenaline.

When she pushed me off, I stumbled back and was caught from behind. My heart skipped a beat, "Hale?" I looked up and it was not Hale, I was slightly disappointed. "Alex…"

"You okay?" He looked at me.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"Okay, I'm—Gabrielle!" Alex screamed.

"What?"

"Stacy, stop!" He put me aside and ran to pull Stacy away from Gabrielle. He pushed Stacy away and picked Gabrielle up who was a bit bloody and…unconscious. Alex glared at Stacy, "What the hell did you do Stacy? I thought you said you'd keep your promise and not fight."

"Technically I said I wouldn't fight Sapph."

"I don't give a fuck. You hurt Gabrielle."

"I did not Alex. She's still breathing. She's just unconscious and she started the fight I was just defending myself."

Alex gave Stacy an angry look, "What?"

"You heard me Alex. You're girlfriend here started the fight. She keep blaming me for Hale's disappearance and was all pissed of thinking I was to blame. Then she tackled me." She lifted up her arms, "See? She attacked me."

"I don't care Stacy. You took this too far."

Stacy frowned at Alex, "You've gotten soft Alex." She took off the necklace she was wearing and put it on Gabrielle. "There, Alex. I'm going to check up on Sapph and then we're leaving. You guys deal with this heist on your own. I don't care what happens to you anymore. I knew I shouldn't have let Sapphire be all buddy buddy with you guys. All you've guys have done is brought us trouble."

"Trouble? Isn't it the other way around? Thanks for sticking with us Stacy." I said with a hint of sarcasm.

"I'm sorry Kat. I tried, but you're crew obviously has trouble believing that I didn't have anything to do with Hale's kidnapping. Even my old friend won't believe me." She gave Alex a hurt look, "So Sapphire and I are leaving. We'll fax you the new plan for the remaining crew members."

Alex set Gabrielle down on the couch and said, "Don't go Stacy. You're jumping to conclusions again."

"No, I'm pretty sure no one here believes me."

"Stacy, understand that you don't have the cleanest track record."

"Yeah I know. I want that necklace back after Gabrielle gets better." Stacy walked to the door. She was upset and hurt. I suppose I'll never understand the way she is. Alex sighed and started tending to Gabrielle's injuries. Stacy walked out and I followed her out.

"Stacy wait." I said.

"Kat go back to your crew they need you right now more than ever." She replied.

"What?"

"Just go back." She turned and faced me. "You might not have noticed, but the whole crew is upset that Hale is missing. You've got to be the strong leader you are and give them confidence."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"You've got it in you. Just think of how you feel when you're with Hale. You'll find what you're looking for there." She walked down the hall and up the stairs to the room Sapphire was in. I followed behind her.

"Are you really just going to let us do this job without you guys? It'll be almost impossible now."

"That it is." Stacy stopped at a bedroom door and frowned. "I don't remember leaving the door ajar." She looked at me confused.

"Maybe Marcus checked up on Sapphire?"

"Shh…" She took out a dagger out from her boot and slowly pushed the door open. When she opened the door her jaw dropped and rushed into the room. I ran after her; into the room. Stacy was fighting large men who were trying to take Hamish and Angus. Sapphire was there fighting as well, but she wasn't doing such a great job. I'd seen both of them fight before, but now Sapphire seemed off on her game. She must have been really hurt.

Stacy pushed Hamish aside as she pulled Angus away from one of the intruders. I ran over to the guys who seemed a bit out of it muttering something about explosions and cake. I pulled Hamish off to the corner after he had passed out. Angus followed me but he passed out and fell on me. He was heavy and was squishing me. It took me a good two minutes to get Angus off of me. When I managed to get free I stood up and saw Stacy over a body. She was holding the man by the collar of his shirt.

"Speak, you piece of shit or I'll slit your throat right here." She pulled up her dagger to the guy's throat.

"Whoa Stacy, relax. What's wrong?"

She looked at me with terror and anger written across her face, "She's gone."

"Who?"

"Sapphire."

I looked around and didn't see her. Sapphire was indeed missing. Stacy pressed her dagger into the man's throat. "Tell me! Tell me where they took her!"

"Stacy stop, you won't get an answer from him like that."

She looked at me, "And what's your plan."

I smiled at her, "We have a little fun first."

She frowned and punched the man in the face; he passed out instantly. "Bring me something to tie him up with. We'll ask him questions later."

I nodded and left the room. I asked Marcus for some rope; when I got back to the room Stacy was pacing. "Here" I said as I handed her the rope.

She cut the rope in half with her dagger and used one piece to tie the man's hands together behind his back. She tied his feet together with the other piece. "There. He won't be going anywhere." Stacy said. She got up and kicked the pillow on the floor. "Damn it Sapphire. Where did you go?"

I saw something shiny on the floor where the pillow was, "Hey what's that?" I walked over to it and picked it up it was a snowflake necklace. I looked up at Stacy and she was pale.

"That's Sapph's favorite necklace." She walked around the room. I walked over to the bed and moved the bed sheets; I didn't find anything.

I turned and looked at Stacy, "I'm sorry. We'll find her."

"You'll help me?" she asked.

"Of course, you offered me the very same just moments ago. I'm just returning the gesture."

Stacy did the strangest thing next, she hugged me. "Thanks." She said just before letting me go and continuing to pace in the room. "Who would take her?"

"I'm not sure. An enemy perhaps?"

"That doesn't narrow it down much."

I blinked. I mean really how many enemies can two teenagers have? "What about a new enemy? Have any of those?"

"No, and that's the weird thing of all of this."

"What about Taccone?"

"I've never dealt with him. There would be no need for him to want to target my sister."

"Well, what if Taccone thinks you and your sister are part of the crew?"

"We're not."

"Yeah you are."

"You're delusional Kat. You saw how your crew acted when Hale went missing. They won't want to help me. I'll find my sister, but right now you should get your crew to calm down."

"Come on Stacy, we need to work as a group, a team. I know you want to leave, but going off on your own doesn't work. Trust me I know. So we'll find Sapphire and Hale but we have to work as a team."

Stacy sighed, "Alright, but you'll have to do some serious convincing because I screwed up big time."

I smiled at Stacy, "Sure."

She frowned at me, "Don't smile, you remind me of Sapphire."

"You miss her." I stated.

"Duh, she's my twin." Stacy paced the room then walked to the open window and looked outside. "I can't believe I let this happen. I shouldn't have left her alone."

"It's not your fault Stacy. It's not like you knew that she was going to be taken."

She sighed and leaned into the window analyzing it closely. "Yeah I know..." She picked up a piece of fabric off the window. "Look at this." She lifted it up. "It's a dark piece of cloth."

"It must have come off who ever came in."

Stacy pulled out a small Ziploc baggie from her shoulder bag. She placed the piece of fabric in the baggie. She looked at me, "Look for more clues, like a foot print or something that will help me find my sister."

I nodded and looked around the room carefully not to miss anything. I checked the sheets while Stacy looked under the bed. "Nothing up here Stacy."

Stacy looked up at me and for the first time she didn't look so tough. There was a sense of sadness in her eyes that I'd never seen before. I was about get off the bed when something fell down to the ground from the bed. We both looked down. It was a cigarette bud. Stacy picked it up and looked at it.

"What is this doing here?" Stacy asked.

"Maybe someone dropped it?"

"So it's a clue" She smiled and saved the cigarette bud. She stood up and sat on the bed with me. She had gone back to her serious frown expression. She looked at the clues we had found. "Taccone messed with the wrong people. If he truly did kidnap my sister he'll regret it."

"We'll find her. She's tough."

She sighed, "I know, I just worry about her. She can be so nice…" She set the clues aside and fingered Sapphire's snowflake necklace. I'd never seen Stacy so worried before. I didn't think she was capable of it, considering she always seems so tough and mean. Don't get me wrong I think Stacy is a cool, but she has terrible people skills. So I was surprised to see her so worried, so…vulnerable.

She was looking at the necklace in her hand, tears running down her cheek. This was starting to get uncomfortable. I cleared my throat, "Hey how about we go down stairs and tell the crew that Sapphire is missing?"

Stacy wiped the tears from her face; removing some of the makeup off her face in the process. I saw some white and orange markings on her face near her eye. It couldn't have been eye shadow since she wasn't wearing eye shadow. She looked at me and frowned, "Don't you dare tell anyone you saw me crying."

I put my hands up in a defensive position, "I won't tell anyone." I brought my hands down and patted Stacy's back. "You're worried; it's understandable."

"Yeah…" She looked distant.

"What is it?"

"The window…" She got up and walked over to it. She leaned into it and tilted her head as she stared at the glass of the window. "It has a hand print."

"Really?"

"Yeah, come and look."

I got up and off the bed. I walked over to Stacy. She pointed to the window where she saw the hand print. I tilted my head and it took me only moment to notice what she had seen. "There is a hand print." I said with a smile, "This is good."

She looked at me and smiled. "Kat, do you think that Simon can figure out who this hand print belongs to?"

"Well there's only one way to find out." I said, "Let go down stairs and tell them what happened."

Stacy looked at me with a sour face. "Do I have to go?"

"Yes you do. You have to apologize to Gabrielle for knocking her unconscious." Oh goodness, I sounded like a mom there. Well I guess there is some truth in it. Stacy did need to apologize to Gabrielle and she needed to face her mistakes. We all do at one point in life.

Stacy sighed, "Alright, but what about Angus and Hamish? And the unconscious guy on the floor?"

I looked down at the guy on the floor. "He won't go anywhere right?"

"Well we could take him down stairs with us."

"And risk him hearing our plans?"

Stacy made a face and was about to respond when she was interrupted by Hamish, "Ah! Dude get off of me!" Both Stacy and I looked at Hamish. He pushed Angus away quickly as he sat up. He looked at us, "Uh why is there a guy on the floor?"

"Same reason you're on the floor." Stacy said. "You were unconscious."

"Then…" He looked at Angus who was waking up. "Angus, you're drooling."

Angus sat up and wiped his face clean. "No I'm not…whoa who's the dead guy?"

"He's not dead." I said.

"He's unconscious and tied up, big difference." Stacy added.

"Uh…how did that happen?" Angus asked.

"Punched him in the face." Stacy shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.

"Wait," Hamish said, "Where's Sapphire?"

Stacy frowned and stepped out of the room. I sighed, "Sapphire's been taken."

"What?" Both Angus and Hamish said. They looked rather upset about it. I suppose they took a liking to Sapphire.

"Stacy saved you guys, but Sapphire got caught."

"Oh man," Angus said, "That's terrible."

"We gotta get her back." Hamish said.

"We will." I said, "Right now we just have to tell the rest of the crew what happened." The boys nodded and stood up. I walked out of the room for a moment. Stacy was pacing the hall.

"What if she's in real danger?" Stacy said.

"Stacy, you can't think like that right now. You have to be strong. You told me yourself."

Stacy sighed, "Alright lets go."

I nodded and headed into the room, "Hey guys, Stacy and I are going down stairs…" Hamish looked at me and blocked my view of Angus. "What are you guys doing?"

Hamish grinned, "Nothing Kat. You go downstairs we'll take care of the dead guy."

"He's not dead."

"Same difference." Hamish walked over to me and ushered me out the door. "You two tell the rest of the crew what happen; we'll watch the guy."

"…Okay."

"Great. Later." Hamish walked back into the room and closed the door. I sighed and looked at Stacy. She was frowning still. I walked down the hallway and about half way to the other end of the hall, I glanced back to make sure she was following. Stacy was lingering by the door. I motioned my head for her to follow me. She sighed and followed me. We walked down the stairs and to the main room.

"What if they won't help me?" Stacy asked.

"I'll help you if they won't and I'm sure Angus and Hamish will too. They seemed rather upset that Sapphire was missing. They'll help you too I'm sure of it." I opened the door and nudged her into the rom. The room went silent as they all turned towards us.

"What do you want Stacy?" Alex asked. He was kneeling next to Gabrielle who was still unconscious.

"Sapphire is missing." Stacy said with caution.

"Don't play the sympathy card Stacy."

"I'm serious Alex. Sapphire is missing." She said as she stepped closer. "I went up to the room to go get her, she was fighting some guys. I managed to save Angus and Hamish but Sapph was taken."

"How do we know you didn't stage this?" Alex said.

"I don't kid around when it involves family. You should know that Alex, or did you forget what we did for you?"

Alex frowned and looked at the ground then at Gabrielle. "Don't bring that up."

"I will bring that up. You left after we helped you out. Alex you're family or at least you were."

"Alex, she's telling the truth. The room was trashed, Hamish and Angus where almost taken; we found some clues that might tell us who did it." I motioned to Stacy to show them the baggies. She pulled them out and set the baggies on the table. "There was even a hand print on the window."

"A hand print?" Alex asked Stacy.

I nodded, "Simon, can you go check the window for the hand print? Hamish and Angus are up there taking care of the guy Stacy caught."

"You caught a guy?" Simon asked.

"Yeah when I was trying to keep the Bagshaw brothers from being taken; I caught one. The rest of them were gone but they had taken Sapphire." She frowned again.

"So what are we going to do with him?" Simon asked.

"Question him." I said.

Simon nodded and gathered his things. "I'll go check out the handprint Kat." He got up and headed up stairs with some equipment.

Stacy walked over to Alex and they started talking. She apologized to him for her burst of anger. Alex forgave her, but he still seemed upset about Sapphire's disappearance. He and Stacy looked at the two clues we had, trying to determine where they came from.

I sat near Gabrielle making sure she was okay. There was a bruise on her face and a scratch on her cheek. I was glad that Stacy didn't take it so far and did too much damage to my cousin. I was worried that Gabrielle would be seriously hurt. Alex had reassured me that she was fine and that it was nothing serious. Stacy wouldn't kill Gabrielle, not because of an argument. Which makes me wonder if she would hurt us if her father told her too?

Would she hurt us even after we helped her out find her sister? I'm willing to help her and show her that we're cool, but I'm still not sure if I should completely trust her. She thinks Alex as family, but what about the rest of us? I shook the thought out of my head. I couldn't think of that right now. Right now I had to think of the plan for the heist and I had to take care of Gabrielle till she woke up.

I touched Gabrielle's forehead to check her temperature; she was a bit warm but there was no fever. So I figured that was good. I looked at Alex and Stacy; they were still talking. Gabrielle made a sound and I turned to her. She moved a bit before waking up.

She blinked up at me, "Kat?"

"Gabs, you're okay."

"Yeah." She rubbed her head, "But I have a terrible headache. Goodness what happened?"

"You don't remember?"

"Not really. All I remember is arguing with Stacy."

"You got in a fight with her too."

"What?" She sat up and pulled out her mirror from her pocket. She gasped "My face is bruised."

Alex and Stacy turned. "Gabrielle!" Alex yelled as he ran to Gabrielle and hugged her.

"Alex, you're squeezing me."

"Oh sorry." He let her go and then touched her face lightly. "How do you feel?"

"I have a headache but I feel fine." She smiled at Alex and grabbed his hand from her face. She kissed his cheek. "Thanks for asking."

Stacy edged over slowly, "Gabrielle…"

"What?" Gabrielle said sounding annoyed.

"Hear me out." Stacy said.

"Fine, go on."

"I'm sorry for…hitting you. I was upset."

"Yeah... okay." Gabrielle looked at me. "Why do you all look so pained? Did something happen to Hale?"

"No, Gabs." Alex said. He looked down at the floor. "Sapphire is missing."

"What are you talking about? She's up stairs in bed."

I shook my head, "No Gabs, someone took Sapphire from the room upstairs."

"We're trying to figure why someone would take her." Alex continued; Gabrielle nodded. Stacy wasn't near us anymore. She had stepped outside to the balcony. Alex continued to explain what had happened. I decided to step outside to check up on Stacy. I'd never seen her so distraught. She always seemed so put together, but I guess everyone has a breaking point.

I walked up to Stacy, "Hey, how are you holding up?"

"I'm fine." She said, "Don't worry about me. You should worry about the heist in two days…er it's about 9pm."

"How can you tell?"

"The position of the moon," She pointed to the sky.

"Where did you learn that?"

"My grandmother taught me and I've always had a soft spot for the stars."

"Oh." I looked up at the stars and sighed. I thought about Hale again and it was breaking my heart to know he's in danger. Stacy seems just as troubled as I did.

"Kat, he'll be alright. We'll get 'em back."

"I know we will."I smiled at her and she smiled back.

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><p><strong><strong>Love? Hate? Review please. Reviews make me happy and motivate me to update sooner. :D <strong>**

**Thank you to all who have you reviewed my story. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. ^-^**


	11. AN: Sneak Peek

**AN: Sorry for the extremely long wait. I was rather busy with school. Finals and all that, but now that I'm on spring break I'll keep writing. :) The only problem is that I don't have internet access. I'm actually at my grandmother's house using the internet right now….well as I'm writing this. **

**And since Y'all are such awesome readers. I thought that maybe a sneak peek is in order. So here's the sneak peek. Enjoy! :D**

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><p>Stacy frowned and looked back at the man. She lifted up her hand and back handed the guy. His face snapped to the side but he said nothing. Alex frowned, "Stacy, you know he won't answer like that."<p>

She turned and faced him, "He knows where Sapph and Hale are!"

"That doesn't call for violence." He responded.

"Oh so you're not gonna do anything about it?" Her tone was still harsh. She was upset and I was afraid to see what she was capable of doing.

Alex walked over to Stacy and grabbed her by the shoulders, "Stacy, you know how much I care about Sapph…and Hale is a friend. You think I'm not upset about this?"

"We'll you're just standing there…"

"I want to find them as much as you do, but violence isn't going to do anything."

She frowned…well it was more of a pout, "You never let me interrogate my way."

Alex smiled and let Stacy go, "Let us do the interrogation. You can be the last measure." He stroked her cheek and Stacy gave a small smile. She nodded and stepped aside.

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><p><strong>AN: I know it's short but I don't wanna give too much away. It's a sneak peek not a spoiler ;) Hope you liked it. ^-^<strong>

**AND before I go check out my co-written story with a friend of mine LookTwice on FictionPress it's called I See You. It's on LookTwice's page under stories as well as my page NorthernStar27 under favorite stories.**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Sorry for taking **soooo** long to update. I was dealing with school AGAIN…Finals came up and I was busy studying, last minute assignments, and cramming. And to add insult to injury I went home for spring break and I have no internet! *sigh* BUT! I did try to get this done as soon as I could. Wrote every chance I had, but it's here now so Yay! Please** REVIEW**; tell me what you think. **Constructive criticism is welcome and so is any ideas you might have. ^-^**

**Oh and to the reviewer known as Classified whoever you are, I have answered your question in the reviews. Figured it would be better than here since it was faster.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the black and white roses calling card.

**So here it is enjoy! ^-^**

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><p><strong>Chapter 11: Kat POV<strong>

Stacy and I stood outside looking at the night sky in silence. I was glad she didn't try and make me feel better. I'm pretty sure Stacy wasn't very good at being sentimental either. She'd seem to be having a hard time just expressing her own feelings.

She had a deep frown as she stared up at the stars. I could tell she was upset and worried for her sister. I felt the same for Hale. It pained me to know that I was at fault for letting him get caught. My plan had failed and the consequences were dire. But I knew I had to be strong; just like Stacy had told me. I'd have to get this job done and save Hale. It was the only way.

I was looking at my star when Stacy said, "Kat maybe we should go inside. You'll need to come up with a new plan."

I looked at Stacy, "You're right. Plus there's that guy upstairs we have to interrogate."

"Oh he won't wake up for a while. I think I punched him a little too hard." She rubbed her hand.

"Did you break anything?" I asked.

"Nah, it's just a bit sore from the punch. I might have broken his nose though." She smirked.

I shook my head. She makes me wonder if she gets into a lot of fights. Hmn…she probably does. I smiled at Stacy and we both walked back inside the mansion. Gabrielle and Alex were still talking and Gabs didn't look to happy. "What's wrong Gabs?" I asked.

"Our plan Kat; it's all wrong."

I frowned. I knew it wasn't going to work, but Gabrielle made it seem like there was nothing to salvage. "It can't be that bad." Stacy said.

Gabrielle gave Stacy a sour look, "You don't talk to me. I'm still mad at you."

Stacy frowned at Gabrielle, "Oh fine then." She looked at Alex. "How bad is the plan?"

"Well with two missing people we're not off to a good start. Plus Sapph was on the inside with you Stacy and Hale was supposed to slip in through the vents with Kat."

"But you could always slip in the vents with her or Gabrielle could do it."

"Do you need another inside man?" Alex asked.

"No I think I can manage but if not I suppose we can work something out."

"You're gonna ask your crew to help?"

"No they're on another job and out of range." Stacy said as she dug through her bag.

"We can find someone else to do the job." Gabrielle said. "What about Nick?"

"Nick? Who's Nick?" Stacy asked looking up from her bag.

"He's a friend." I said.

"Yeah, with a mom that works for Interpol." Alex commented.

Stacy looked at Alex in disbelief, "A mom in Interpol?"

"Yeah…Bennet. That's his mom." Alex answered.

"What?" She looked at me, "Really?"

I nodded, "Yeah, Nick's mom works for Interpol."

"How did you even know him?"

"It's a long story." I said. I wasn't sure if story telling was appropriate at the moment so I changed the subject. "I think it would be best to know what we're up against."

"But we already know that Kitty Kat." Gabrielle said.

"No, I mean why Taccone had Hale kidnapped." I frowned, "I know this isn't part of the original assignment but Taccone is messing with our plans. We have to prepare for it."

"She's right." Stacy said. I was a bit surprised that she backed me up. It's not like we were on good terms. I was still a bit mad at her for flirting so much with Hale. I know it's wrong of me to think like that at a moment like this, but she was flirting with Hale! I think that's more than enough to be mad at her. Plus she hasn't even explained why she was flirting with him. Or what even happened when I caught her and Hale in the hall.

I looked away from Stacy and came back to reality when Gabrielle asked, "So Kat what are we going to do? We can't do both."

"Both?" I asked.

"Get a new member and save Hale."

"Why not?"

"Kat…"

I frowned at Gabrielle. "Why can't we do both?" I asked again.

"Kat… you have to understand that we can't risk our lives just to save his." I took a step back. How could I could Gabrielle say that to me? My very own cousin told me to go against my heart. I never through I'd hear her say something like that to me.

I frowned at Gabrielle, "Hale would risk his life for one of us."

"Kat that's not…"

"No that's exactly—"

"Quit it already!" Stacy yelled. "You two need to work together. I think first priority is interrogating the guy that's upstairs and **then** making a new plan. We have to figure out how much we can handle."

Gabrielle stared at Stacy blankly and I frowned. "Stacy has a point." Alex said. "We have to get ourselves together, get the job done and save Hale."

I nodded, "Then let's hold off getting a new member until we can figure out if we'll need an extra pair of hands."

"I agree." Stacy said. Gabrielle scoffed. I suppose she was still mad at Stacy for knocking her unconscious.

Moments later, Simon rushed into the room. "He's awake!"

"Who?" Alex asked.

"The dead guy." Simon said.

Oh great, Hamish and Angus where rubbing off on Simon. "A dead guy?" Gabrielle asked.

"The guy that's up stairs; the one I caught." Stacy said as she rushed to the door. I ran after her as did Simon. Gabrielle and Alex were right behind me. I ran up the stairs and into the room. I never thought I'd see Hamish or Angus look so thrilled to see Stacy. They seemed to have favored Sapphire, but they were particularly excited about Stacy showing up.

"He's delusional!" Angus screamed.

"The guy bit me!" Hamish complained as he pointed to the man that was bound to the chair. Stacy ignored the complaints of Hamish and Angus and walked right past them. She walked over to the man and stared him down. He seemed completely unfazed. The man just sat there staring back at her with a glare.

It was a stare down between Stacy and the 'dead guy.'

Alex and Gabrielle came into the room after Simon. Gabrielle gasped when she saw the man; Alex frowned.

"This is the guy?" Gabrielle asked, "He looks…"

"Tough?" Simon interjected. He looked at Gabrielle but she didn't look back. Simon's sight lingered on Gabrielle before looking back at the man.

"No I was looking for a word more on the lines of buff." Alex frowned at Gabrielle's description as did Simon.

"Has he said anything?" Stacy asked.

"No." both Angus and Hamish said.

"Well he did say something about letting him go." Angus mentioned.

"I don't think that counts." Hamish continued.

Stacy turned to face the boys, "Did he say anything of importance?" Her tone was biting and harsh. What had happened to the nice Stacy I had just talked to an hour ago?

Angus and Hamish flinched, "No." they stammered.

Stacy frowned and looked back at the man. She lifted up her hand and back handed the guy. His face snapped to the side but he said nothing. Alex frowned, "Stacy, you know he won't answer like that."

She turned and faced Alex, "He knows where Sapph and Hale are!"

"That doesn't call for violence." He responded.

"Oh so you're not gonna do anything about it?" Her tone was still harsh. She was upset and I was afraid to see what she was capable of doing.

Alex walked over to Stacy and grabbed her by the shoulders, "Stacy, you know how much I care about Sapph…and Hale is a friend. You think I'm not upset about this?"

"We'll you're just standing there…"

"I want to find them as much as you do, but violence isn't going to do anything."

She frowned…well it was more of a pout, "You never let me interrogate my way."

Alex smiled and let Stacy go, "Let us do the interrogation. You can be the last measure." He stroked her cheek and Stacy gave a small smile. She nodded and stepped aside. Gabrielle didn't look to happy with Alex's gesture toward Stacy. It didn't make too much sense to me. I thought that Alex had a thing for Sapphire once and not for her sister. Gabrielle pushed Stacy aside and walked over to Alex. She grabbed Alex's hand and glanced at Stacy with a smirk.

Note to self: Never come in between Gabs and her boyfriend.

I stepped up to Alex and Gabrielle, "Well, who should ask the questions first?"

"I will." Hamish said. He turned and faced the man on the chair, "Why'd you bite me?"

I shook my head and pushed Hamish aside, "Not those kinds of questions." He frowned at me and I kissed his cheek to make him feel better. He flushed and I rolled my eyes….boys. I turned around and looked at Alex; he nodded at me and I stepped up to the man. He didn't look afraid in the slightest. He has a scar across his brow and was probably in his late twenties. As Gabrielle had pointed out, he was well built. How could have Stacy been able to beat a guy of this build? It must have been the adrenaline from the anger she was experiencing.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

He stared blankly at me, so I asked him again only this time I made my voice sound more…assertive. He blinked and grinned, "The name is Jake."

It was probably a fake name but at least he answered. "So, Jake…" I said, "You work for Taccone correct?"

"Actually, I work for whoever pays the most." He grinned with a slight accent…British perhaps. I frowned at him; he just kept grinning.

"You're a mercenary." Stacy sneered.

"I'd prefer the term adventure capitalist." Jake laughed like it was some kind of joke.

She frowned at Jake and stepped forward. She looked about ready to punch his lights out…again. He just smirked at her. Alex held Stacy back, "It's not worth it Stacy."

Stacy frowned and turned away. Jake laughed some more. This was getting nowhere fast. I looked at Alex and we came upon an unspoken agreement. He took her out of the room while the rest of us had the task of interrogating Jake.

Gabrielle stepped up and looked at Jake, "How bout we get this started." She grinned. It was like looking at an evil version of Gabrielle. It was creepy. Jake looked at her and I swear he checked her out. But Gab's paid him no attention and brought his chin up to meet her eyes. "Where are Hale and Sapphire?"

"Don't know." Jake answered.

Gabrielle frowned, "Where are they?"

"Don't. Know."

She slapped him and he smirked. Gabrielle took a deep breath, "Where were you supposed to take Sapphire?"

"Not telling."

"Why did you try and take Hamish and Angus?" I asked.

"Simple. They were part of your team, though I suggested they take the nerd over there." He gestured to Simon with his head. "But no one listens to the new guy."

"Why Simon?"

"He's the techie of the group, but I suppose those two are as important." He said gesturing with his head over to the Bagshaw brothers.

"Everyone is important!" Gabrielle snapped.

"So I see." He eyed her and then looked up at the ceiling. "So am I just going to sit here all day?"

"Yes." I said, "So start answering our questions. Where were you supposed to take Sapphire?"

"I told you I don't know."

"No, you said you weren't telling." Simon interrupted.

Jake paused and grinned, "I was right; they should have taken you instead."

Simon frowned and Gabrielle took a step in front of Simon. She seemed protective, "You leave Simon alone!" Gabs exclaimed. She I could almost see a vein pop from her forehead. That's the only blemish I've ever seen her have.

Jake laughed at Gabrielle, "Y'all are a fun bunch to mess with."

I frowned and before I got the chance Gabrielle punched Jake in the face. She yelped, "My hand!"

Simon pulled Gabrielle aside and checked her hand. "Gabs, I think it's broken."

He moved her hand and she yelped. "Ow! Simon that hurts."

"Yeah, it's broken." He said. "C'mon Gab's lets go get this fixed." Simon and Gabrielle walked out of the room.

"And then there were three." Jake said with a grin.

I ignored his comment, or at least I tried too. He was getting really annoying. More so than Angus and Hamish's arguing over whose prototype explosive was better. He kept smirking at me, but I had more control than I thought I did. "Are you just going to smirk or are you going to tell us where Hale and Sapphire are?"

"Nope." He smirked. I frowned at him as I desperately tried to keep my cool.

He was not going to win.

"Maybe if we tie a cherry bomb to him…" Angus said

"And detonate it." Hamish finished.

"We're not going to blow him up."I said.

"Aw." Angus complained.

"He won't die." Hamish said, "He'll just lose a few fingers."

"No." I rolled my eyes and faced Jake. I asked him again, but he didn't answer me. All he did was laugh at me. I've had about enough of him. I asked him one last time, sounding as menacing as a petite girl can sound.

"You're so polite." He said.

I frowned; I wasn't trying to sound polite. "I'm not going to get violent with you." I admitted.

"But I will." Stacy said as she walked into the room. I turned and saw how calm Stacy looked. It's a bit scary considering her hair is in a tangled mess, like she just got out of a fight. Did she get in a fight with Alex?

"Stacy, where's Alex?" I asked.

"With Gabrielle." She answered as she walked over to Jake.

He smirked at her, "Back for more, sweetheart?" His accent was thicker; definitely British. Stacy's response was more than expected. Well, more than I've ever seen. She pulled out a knife and cut his cheek. Jake winced but smirked anyways as if it amused him to see her so angry.

"He's crazy." Hamish said.

"Well he did bite your finger." Angus added.

"Point taken." I said.

Stacy was glaring at Jake. He had a rather ridiculous smile on his face. Stacy on the other hand had a scowl. She was gripping her knife tightly in one hand. "You're much more violent than the rest of these kids." Jake said.

"Oh, you have no idea." Stacy grinned.

I stepped forward taking this chance to speak up, "Tell us where Hale and Sapphire are."

He looked at me, "No."

Without really thinking about it I back handed Jake. I frowned when I realized what I had done. "Answer me!"

"Nah, I don't think so." Jake answered.

"Answer me or…or else!"

He smirked, "Or else what?"

I hesitated; I didn't really know what to say, but didn't get the chance to say anything since Stacy answered for me. "Or else I'll stab you."

Jake laughed, "You won't stab me. You need me."

"Maybe, but I don't have to kill you when I stab you. Just let you bleed." She said.

Jake didn't respond rather they tried to stare each other down again. Jake smirked at Stacy and she frowned at him. Hamish broke the silence with a fart. I rolled my eyes and Angus laughed. Stacy just glanced at the Bagshaw brothers and they instantly got silent. I wish I could do that.

She looked at Jake, "You gonna answer her or do I have to stick this knife in you?"

"What did she ask?"

Stacy frowned and stepped forward. "I asked you to tell me where Sapphire and Hale are." I said.

Jake looked at me and then at the rest of us. "I don't know where Hale is. Sapphire might be somewhere that I know…"

"Spill it!" Stacy cut his cheek again.

Jake flinched, "Not just yet."

Stacy raised her hand to slash Jake again but I stepped in front of her. Jake was smirking; he was definitely enjoying seeing Stacy lose her cool. "Jake, tell us where she is." I said.

He looked at me and smiled, "If I tell you where that girl is, you going to let me go?"

"Yes, I'll let you got if you tell us where she is."

Stacy pushed me aside, "No we're not."

"Why not?" Hamish asked.

"Stacy, we can't keep him." I said.

"We'll let him go **after** we get Sapph and Hale back." She said. "Till then he stays here; tied to this chair with no food."

"You're smarter than you look." Jake said.

Stacy frowned at him, "Spill! Where is Sapphire?"

He smirked at her, "They're supposed to take her to a warehouse on Third Street."

"Third Street?"I asked.

"I know where that is." Stacy said. "It's in the warehouse district."

"How do you know where that is?" Angus asked.

"I have a hang out in that area." She replied.

"A hang out?" Hamish asked.

"Yes a hang out. You know a place where my team and I go to hang out." Stacy said in annoyance.

"It's a headquarters isn't it?" Jake asked.

"None of your business." Stacy sneered as she slapped him.

"Ow! Is that any way to treat the man who knows where your sister is?"

"I could care less who you are. If you give us a false lead….You'll regret it." She turned around and left the room. I looked at Hamish and Angus and told them to watch over Jake. They both gave me a salute and then faced Jake. I walked out of the room to go after Stacy. I was pretty sure she was going to get Sapphire back and I'm going with her. There was no way I was going to let Stacy go alone.

"Stacy wait!" I called out as I ran after her. She didn't stop walking and just continued to walk out of the mansion.

I ran faster and eventually caught up to her. "Stacy, where are you going?"

She turned and faced me, "Fourth Street."

"You're going after Sapphire?" I asked.

"Yeah." She said dryly and continued walking.

I followed her, "I'm going with you."

She stopped in her tracks and I bumped into her. "No you're not coming with me Kat."

I looked at her. That was the first time she's ever called me Kat. It's usually Bishop or Katrina. This is a bit strange. "Why not?"

"Because it's dangerous." She said.

"Dangerous? That's not a very good reason." I replied.

She frowned at me, "Can you defend yourself in a fight when it came to it?"

"Well…"

"I thought so." She walked off. She had a point, I don't fight. I'm a thief not a fighter, but I couldn't just stay. Hale could be there and I need to find him. I followed her out the mansion. "Quit following me Bishop."

"No! Hale could be there and I'm going with you." I walked over to her. "Sapphire is a friend and is just as important to this crew as Hale."

"Yeah, yeah." She said and walked off again. I followed her. She stopped after a few steps. "You're not going to leave are you?" She turned to face me.

"Nope."

She sighed, "Alright just don't do anything stupid."

I smiled, "You're not much of a team player."

"So I've been told." She frowned and walked out the main gate and down the street.

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><p><strong>Love? Hate? Review please. Reviews make me happy and motivate me to update sooner. :D <strong>

**Thank you to all who have you reviewed my story. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. ^-^**

**AND before I end my rant check out my co-written story with a friend of mine LookTwice on FictionPress it's called I See You. It's on LookTwice's page under stories as well as my page NorthernStar27 under favorite stories.**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Sorry for taking **soooo** long to update. I was dealing with school AGAIN *sigh* BUT! I did try to get this done as soon as I could and it's here now so Yay! Please** REVIEW**; tell me what you think. **Constructive criticism is welcome and so is any ideas you might have. ^-^**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the black and white roses calling card.

**So here it is enjoy! ^-^**

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><p><strong>Chapter 12 Kat POV<strong>

I followed Stacy as she walked down the block. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"To my car." She said.

"Why not ask Marcus drive us to the warehouse district?"

"Because it's faster this way."

"Really?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes Bishop, really." She sounded annoyed.

We continued to walk in silence for about five minutes, until we approached a cream colored car. It looked new and top of the line. I don't know what type of care it was but it must have cost her quite a bit of money.

She opened the door and got into the driver's seat. I slipped into the passenger's seat once she unlocked the doors. She looked at me, "Put on your seatbelt."

"What?"

"Put your seatbelt on. I drive fast."

I didn't argue with her and put my seatbelt on. Stacy gave me no warning and drove off at full speed. I'm not exactly sure how fast we were going; I was pushed back into my seat. The speed of the car was so fast it gave me a rush; much like the rush one gets on a rollercoaster. It was interesting to see all the trees and cars pass by in a flash. It even made me a bit nauseous watching everything pass by so quickly. I even had to turn away from the window.

How she managed to drive so fast in a city, was beyond me. I just tried my best not to get anymore nauseous than I was already was. I saw a light flash as we crossed an intersection; I think we just ran a red light. I looked at Stacy and it didn't seem to bother her; she just kept driving. She didn't even flinch when she cut in front of a car and almost causing an accident. She was so robotic; I wonder how she manages to get along with other people.

We drove for another five minutes until we approached a warehouse. She pulled into the lot and parked her car. "Is this the place?" I asked. "Where they have Hale and Sapphire?"

"No, this is my hangout." Stacy answered as she turned off the car. "We can check out the surrounding area from here."

"So you don't know where they are?"

"No, Jake didn't tell us exactly where Hale and Sapph are." She frowned. I almost expected we'd go bargaining into every building looking for Hale and Sapphire. It seemed like Stacy's style. "Why are you looking at me like that Bishop?"

"Just wondering what we're going to do next."

"We're going to look for them." She frowned at me again, does this girl ever smile? "I'm not going to barge into random buildings. I'm violent not stupid." She got out of her car and walked over to the warehouse and I followed.

The area where the warehouse was located was pretty empty. There were a few trucks parked, but there weren't many people outside. Some of these buildings appeared empty. I wonder how Stacy managed to get this place. She opened the door and motioned for me to step in, so I did. The warehouse was dark inside with a bit of light coming down through a skylight. It silhouetted a living room and a kitchen area. Once Stacy turned on the lights I saw what was inside the warehouse. It was large and split into several sections.

I counted seven different sections in the warehouse, each with its own purpose and individuality. There was the kitchen and a living room. The kitchen was decorated with blue and had a desk close by. In the living room there was a bookcase near the couch and a TV, off to the side, with a few pink and black bean bags. It looked a bit like a game area and there were videogame controllers scattered on the floor as well.

On the other side of the game area, were a desk and a large mirror. From what I could tell the desk had several types of make-up and things on top. Gabrielle would like that area and the large mirror. I sure whoever that spot belonged to would get along well with my cousin. There also was what appeared to be a large closet, near the mirror; full with clothes no doubt.

Near the kitchen and past the desk, that should be a dining table, was a collection of computers. That area reminded me of Simon. He would like a station like this one; not far from the computers was a wall with an array of weapons. It was like looking at one of those spy movies, where there's a wall full of weapons. I wonder why they need so many weapons. Right near the wall of weapons was a garage like area with a few cars.

As I looked at every section of the warehouse, I noticed that every space had some kind of personal touch. Perhaps it was for each member of the team. I counted the sections, using my fingers, to determine the amount of members in the team. There was Stacy and Sapphire, so that would leave five people. Then there was also Alex...was one of these areas his?

Seven sections, seven members.

I followed Stacy to the computers. She sat down and started up the computers, and now that I was closer to this section I realized it had more than just computers. There were little gadgets and gizmos too, and it was pretty impressive. Simon would definitely like this place.

Once the computers were on, Stacy maneuvered through some program and brought up what appeared to be security camera feeds. "Is that outside?"I asked.

"Yeah just down the block actually." She said. "We have the whole area under surveillance just in case the cops come around."

"Impressive." I said.

"Thanks" She smiled at me and changed the view on the screen. "This was yesterday… the night Sapph was taken."

Stacy played the video feed; there was no activity in several areas. We watched the screens for a few minutes and I was starting to think we wouldn't find anything. I was afraid that Jake had lied to us and we'd never find Hale.

Half an hour later, we found the right footage.

"Wait!" I called out. Stacy stopped the footage. "Go back."

She went back and I told her to stop. It took a few tries but we managed to see something on the video footage. She frowned slightly, "That has to be Sapphire."

"How can you be so sure? The person's head is covered." I pointed out. The footage was a bit blurry, but even if it were clear we wouldn't be able to see this person's face.

"It has to be. I mean who else would be carrying a body into a warehouse?"

"Well could you make the footage clearer?" I asked.

Stacy frowned, "No, I'm not Lan."

"Who?"

"The techie in my crew, but we should check this place out just to be on the safe side." She looked at me and smiled, "Like I always say, better safe than sorry."

I nodded and looked back at the screen, "Let's hope they're there or at least a lead to help us find them."

Stacy nodded and got up, "You…you want something to drink?"

I wasn't expecting her to offer something; it kind of threw me off. I nodded, "Water?" She walked off to the kitchen and then brought back a soda for herself and a water bottle for me. "So what's the plan? Where's that building?" I asked.

Stacy looked at the computer screen, "Just a few blocks down."

"That's good. It's not too far then." I said.

"It's not," She smiled, "and we have a live feed." She got up.

"You're leaving?"

"No, I'm going to pack a few things. You keep watching the video feed." Stacy said and walked off to the wall of weapons. Does she seriously think we'll need weapons for this? I hadn't thought about the dangers of this mission. It worried me to think Hale was with these dangerous people and hoped he was alright.

I missed him terribly.

I snapped out of my thoughts when I saw three people on the computer screen. They walked into the building and a few minutes later came back out. There were two men guarding the entrance. They looked tough and heavily armed. I hope Stacy had a plan on how to bypass these scary looking guards.

As I kept watching I saw nothing interesting, there wasn't any extra movement. The area seemed peaceful; it reminded me of the time I visited Taccone's home. But this wasn't Taccone's home, it was a warehouse. Perhaps this was where he was hiding out and wasn't let out of prison, rather he escaped. The thought sent chills through my body. It would make things much worse for me, if it were true.

Moments later, Stacy came up to me, "You see anything interesting?"

I looked at her and then the knife in her hand, "No, just three guys walked in and then came out. It's been rather calm."

"Hu, it's a bit too calm. We'll have to be extra careful. They're probably expecting us."

"You mean it could be a trap?" I asked. "That doesn't seem like Taccone's style."

Stacy looked at me and said, "Villains, bad people, whatever you want to call them, tend to be cliché…and arrogant."

"But aren't we bad people?" I asked, remembering the time Hale and I had spoken about the very thing when Taccone first threatened my father.

"We are, but we're a different type of bad. You're probably much nicer than I am." She wiped the knife she was holding with a rag. "I can say for a fact that I'm arrogant and that you're too kind to be bad. You're just a thief." She smiled at me, "And you're not a common thief either."

I looked at Stacy; to be honest I was a bit confused by what she meant. I wasn't exactly sure if she had complemented me or called me weak. Maybe it was just her style of complementing someone?

"Okay, but why would Taccone set up a trap?" I asked.

"You beat Taccone at his own game right?"

"Yeah, he was sent to jail." I answered.

"Well if I'm not wrong, Taccone is attempting to get back at you for what you did." She frowned, "So we better play it safe."

"You don't seem like the type to play it safe."

"I'm not." She smiled as she twirled her knife. She walked back to the wall of weapons; I got up and followed her.

"Then why are you so cautions?" I asked.

She looked up at me from her bag, "Because my sister is involved." She grabbed a gun from the wall and started taking it apart. "And because you decided to tag along. I can't let you get hurt, so I have to be careful. Your crew would kill if you got injured me and Alex would be ticked."

"You and Alex had a thing?" I asked. I'm not sure where that question came from… okay maybe I did wonder what type of relationships Alex had with Stacy and Sapphire.

Stacy looked at me like I was crazy, "No, why would you ask that?"

"Oh…it just…the way he treated in the interrogation?"

Stacy grabbed a cloth and cleaned a piece of the gun, "He was just being nice."

"Right, so how are we going to get into the building?"I asked in hopes to change the subject, "There are only two doors."

"Through the back door." She looked up at me, "We'll have to take them out."

I blinked, "Take them out?"

"Knock them unconscious?" She looked at me and must have noted my discomfort, "Well I'll take them out."

I shivered a bit. How could she talk so calmly about something like this? I hoped she wasn't going to kill them and just knock them out with a tranquilizer. From what I've learned, Black (aka Stacy) has been seen to attack museum guards. She had severally harmed a few of them. I didn't want to deal with anyone's death. "I'm not killing anyone." I blurted out.

"No one is going to kill. They'll just be knocked out." She reassured me. "But if we come across more guards, we might have to fight."

I frowned, "I don't fight."

"Well then we'll just have to be extra sneaky." She said as she reassembled her gun. "We leave in half an hour. Eat something."

I blinked, "Half an hour?"

"Don't yell. I can hear you." She frowned.

"Half an hour is too long."

"Fine, we'll go when I'm done, but go eat something." She got up and pointed to the kitchen. "Go."

I saw Stacy grab a few weapons and put them in her bag. I frowned and walked to the kitchen. There wasn't much in the refrigerator, it was practically empty. I guess she hasn't been here for a while. I grabbed a brownie and ate it. About a minute or two after I had finished eating the brownie, Stacy came over to the kitchen.

"C'mon Bishop, let's go."

I got up from the chair I was sitting on and followed Stacy out of the warehouse; to her car. She drove to the building and parked the car not far off so we could use it as a quick getaway. We walked to the building and hid behind some trash cans.

Stacy looked at me and smiled, "I'll take the guards out then we sneak in, got it?" I nodded.

She snuck over to the two guards at the door. Stacy came up behind the first guard and injected him with a tranquillizer; knocking him out. The second guard managed to see her and tried to attack. It did the guard no good, since Stacy acted quickly and knocked him out. She motioned for me to come over and we both walked into the building, with the help of the key card.

Stacy grinned at me; we both walked down the dim hallway. There was no one in the sight. The place was empty. Something was up.

"Stacy," I whispered, "the place is too calm."

"I noticed," she said, "just walk quickly and quietly."

Suddenly the lights went out and I heard a yelp come from Stacy. I frantically searched my bag for my flashlight but suddenly, the lights came back on. Stacy was struggling to get out of a guard's grip.

"Run Bishop. Run!" Stacy yelled. A man punched Stacy; I hesitated wanting to help her out but I could tell I was no match for them. So I ran like I was told.

Someone tried to grab me but I was too fast. I ran into a room and closed the door behind me. I pulled out my flashlight and switched it on; when I turned around I saw the shadow of someone sitting on a chair. As I got closer, I realized this person wasn't sitting on a chair, but rather this person had been tied to the chair. "Sapphire?" I asked. "Hale?" I saw some movement and smiled. I found Hale!

When I approached the chair, I noticed something was different…the hair. It was all wrong. "Hale?" I asked again as I slowly approached the chair. The person in the chair moved again. It had to be Hale. The person responded to Hale's name. Would someone go to the trouble of dying Hale's hair just to trick me? When I was at a close distance I saw a boy in the chair; a cute one at that, but it wasn't Hale.

"Nick?" I blinked. The boy that was strapped to the chair was not Hale. It was Nick. I frowned; I couldn't believe Taccone would kidnap Nick.

Nick looked at me and tried to say something, but it was muffled by the duct tape. So I took it off. He yelped, "Kat it's a trap."

"What?" I asked. The lights turned on blinding me in the process. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw five men at the door. I frowned, "Well this just keeps getting better doesn't it?"

"Get out of here Kat." Nick said.

"No, I'm not leaving without you." I pulled out the knife I had borrowed from Stacy and cut through the rope tying Nick's hands to the chair.

"Kat you gotta get out of here."

I ignored Nick and freed his hands. The guards approached us; it was clear that we were out numbered. I looked at Nick, who was rubbing his wrists, "You know how to fight?" I asked.

He looked up at me, "Don't you have a plan?"

"Well not anymore." I smiled.

"What do you mean by not anymore?"

"I'm winging it." I knelt down and cut the rope that tied Nick's legs to the chair, "I had a plan and now I don't." I got up and helped him out of the chair.

Nick was a bit bruised up but seemed overall okay. We backed up as the men got a bit too close. "It's always a pleasure to have you around Kat." Nick said with a cheeky grin.

I rolled my eyes and looked around for an exit. I hoped there was a window, but there was none. I couldn't see another door except for the one I came in through. I looked around. There was, the chair and rope bits and… a pipe.

A pipe! I quickly picked it up and readied myself to fight.

"Hey what about me?" Nick asked.

I looked at him and handed him the knife I had, "Here use this. You can handle a knife right?"

"I'll manage." He smirked. I smiled back at Nick and then looked back at the group of men. The first one to get too close made me flinch and I swung. I opened my eyes and saw the man stagger back.

"Nice swing Kat."

I smiled, "Thanks." I let my guard down for a second and the guards all rushed at us at once. I swung at whoever was closest. A few guards backed away from my frantic swinging. I think I even hit Nick on the arm accidently. That's when we decide it was best to be back to back. Nick and I tried to fend them off. I could even hear Nick grunt every time he swiped at someone.

After a few minutes of swinging the pipe back and forth, my arms started to hurt. I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep this up. Nick seemed to be doing a bit better than I, but not by much. He was hurt when I found him so it's no wonder he's having a tough time keeping up.

"Nick?"

"Yeah Kat?" Nick answered.

"There's too many of them." Suddenly I felt a faint breeze on my back and couldn't hear Nick anymore. I quickly spun around and saw a tall man grab Nick. The knife Nick had dropped to the ground.

The man grinned at me as he held Nick, "You've got spunk kid." He said.

I frowned at him, "Let him go!"

"Not my call."

Nick was struggling to get out of the man's grip. I couldn't attack; I was outnumbered and there was the possibility Nick could get hurt. I didn't know what to do, so I stood there hiding my emotions. I couldn't let them think they had won.

The man laughed at me, "You think you can take us all?"

"No" I admitted.

"But I can." A voice in the shadows said and suddenly one of the men dropped to the ground. The other guards brought out there guns and knives. They looked afraid.

"Careful now," the man said, "I've got your friend here."He gripped Nick. I heard a small gasp of air come from Nick as his face twisted into one of fear and pain.

"You're choking him!" I frowned.

The man stepped back with Nick then two others dropped to the ground.

"I warned you!" He squeezed Nick and a small squeak was heard. His face turned blue.

"Stop it!" I yelled, "You're killing him." I felt my eyes getting watery.

"Then tell your accomplice to step into the light." I looked around and saw no one. Then I heard footsteps behind me and out from the shadows appeared Stacy. She had a few scratches on face and arms. In her hand she had a knife covered in blood.

"Stacy." I gasped.

"Ah so you know her." I turned and faced the man. His grip has loosened just enough to allow Nick to breath. Stacy stepped forward and another man dropped to the ground.

She grinned, "Poison, not my style but it works wonders."

I didn't like that statement, but was rather glad Stacy was on my side at the moment. She took another step forward and the man who had Nick stepped back. "Not one more step closer or the boy gets it."

I looked at Stacy and dropped the pipe. Stacy frowned and dropped her knife. The few guards that were left came up behind us and grabbed us by the shoulders. "Good." The man said, "The boss will be very please."

I struggled against the grip but I couldn't get lose. I wasn't strong enough. I really hate being of such a small stature. I looked at Stacy and she looked back at me with a wink. I'm not sure what that meant but I hoped she had some kind of plan to get us out of here.

The men shoved us forward and I stumbled. Nick looked at me with the same concern I had seen on Hale once before. I didn't know what to make of it. I tried to look as fearless as possible. I looked at Stacy once more to see how she was holding up. She was smiling which was a bit strange. Who would smile in a situation like this?

The next thing I noticed was Stacy flipping the guard over. I guess that's why she was smiling. She had a plan. The guard that was holding me pulled me back and gripped me tighter. I squirmed and frowned. "Let go." I stepped on his foot and his grip loosened. I managed to get out of his grip when I stepped on him again.

Stacy pulled me away "Run, go out that-" She flinched and grabbed her arm. She'd been shot! "Get out of here!" She pushed me toward the exit with her good arm. Then she turned, pulling a knife from her belt and flung it at the man who had Nick. The knife lodged itself in the man's hand and he quickly let go of Nick.

I ran over to Nick, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine." He grabbed me by the hand, "Let get out of here."

"Wait, we can't leave Stacy."

"Who?" Nick asked.

I didn't answer him; instead I picked up my pipe and hit one of the guards on the head. The guard staggered and Stacy finished him off with a punch to the nose. She smiled and ran to the exit. I followed her and Nick followed me.

The exit was blocked by two more guards; Stacy just pulled out a gun and shot them both. The guards fell to the ground and we ran out to the car. We got inside and Stacy drove back to the warehouse. I was up front while Nick was in back seat. We had to roam the area to lose anyone who might have been tailing us.

Once we got to the warehouse Stacy parked inside the garage of the warehouse and turned off the car. She at her arm and sighed, "Great, now my car is all bloody." She stepped out of the car and headed to the kitchen.

I looked at Nick and he looked back at me. "What just happened?" he asked, "And who is she?"

* * *

><p><strong>Love? Hate? Review please. Reviews make me happy and motivate me to update sooner. :D <strong>

**Thank you to all who have you reviewed my story. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. ^-^**

**AND before I end my rant check out my co-written story with a friend of mine LookTwice on FictionPress it's called I See You. It's on LookTwice's page under stories as well as my page NorthernStar27 under favorite stories. New chapter up soon! hopefully. :3  
><strong>


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N:** Sorry for taking **soooo** long to update. There really was no excuse except for the fact that it was summer, but I wrote every chance I had. It's here now so Yay! Please** REVIEW**; tell me what you think. **Constructive criticism is welcome and so are any ideas you might have. ^-^ ****Oh and ****Thank You to all who reviewed. It made my day, just knowing there are people out there who like my Fic.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the Black and White Roses calling card.

**So here it is enjoy! ^-^**

Chapter 13 Kat POV

Nick and I got out of the car and walked into the warehouse. I led him over to the living room of the hideout and we sat down. I explained everything that had happened. I told him about the heist and how Hale was kidnapped and Sapphire too. Luckily for me, Nick didn't interrupt so I was able to tell him everything I could remember. I told him about how we thought that Hale and Sapphire were being held in the warehouse where we had found him. "And then I found you tied to the chair." I said. He didn't seem all that happy about me mentioning that.

"Sounds like you'll need help." Nick said.

"Help is the last thing on my mind right now Nick."

He gave me a strange look, "So you don't want help?"

"Of course I do Nick." I spread my arms, "Look at you, you're hurt and you've just been kidnapped. Shouldn't you be calling your mother or something?"

Nick didn't get the chance to answer me, since Stacy said, "That's Nick?" She walked over to us from the kitchen with the first aid kit in hand. Her arm was bandaged up and it appeared to still bleeding.

"Yeah, this is Nick." I said.

"Hu…" She handed me the first aid kit, "You're the kid with a mom in Interpol?"

"Yeah, that's not a problem is it?" Nick answered

"As long as you stay out of trouble." She smirked and then turned to me. "Clean him up. I'm going to check up on the camera feed. Maybe we might get more information on Taccone." She walked back to the computers that were on the other side of the room.

"She's wonderful." Nick said sarcastically.

"She's not that bad once you get to know her." I smiled, "She's just moody. Her sister was taken remember?"

"Yeah, so was Hale…You think Taccone did this?"

"Well he did vow revenge." I frowned, "But enough of that right now. Let me see your arm."

"No, I'm fine Kat."

I pulled out the wet 'naps from the first aid kit and scooted closer to Nick. I rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. The wound on his arm was deep and bloody. The sight of it made my nose crinkle. I quickly grabbed a wet 'nap and carefully dabbed his wound. Nick winced. "Oh, are you okay?" I asked.

He nodded, "Yeah."

"You're lying." I said as I cleaned up the wound on his arm. I couldn't help but notice how toned his arm was. He had muscle, but it was much different than Hale.

Nick winced again and frowned at me, "That hurts Kat."

"Well I'm not a nurse." I said.

He smirked, "You wouldn't be a good nurse then."

I swatted him, "Hmph." I wrapped the bandage around his arm. I couldn't help but wonder why Taccone had gone after Nick. He wasn't part of the crew; he was with his mother and Interpol. That's how we wanted it to seem, like Nick wasn't part of the crew.

"What's the matter Kat?" Nick asked me.

I was looking at his arm; not really cleaning him up anymore. "Nothing, I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"About why Taccone chose to kidnap you." I looked at him, "You weren't part of the team."

"Yes I was Kat."

"No, I mean you weren't supposed to look like you were part of the team."

"Well if he doesn't think I'm part of the team he must know my mom is part of Interpol." He said calmly. I didn't know exactly how he could be so calm at a time like this. He'd just been kidnapped and rescued! Who would be so put together after that?

"You're right; she was the one to arrest him." I pointed out. I grabbed a few band-aids to cover up the small cuts on his other arm. He was really beaten up; cuts and bruises everywhere. His arm was still bleeding and might need some kind of stitches.

"Yeah that's what happens when you're the son of an Interpol officer."

"You're arm is still bleeding." I said changing the subject.

"Well I was cut with a knife, Kat."

"Maybe we should take you to the hospital. You might need stitches."

"It's alright Kat." He lifted my chin and I blushed slightly.

"Nick don't…"

"What?"

"Nothing." I closed the first aid kit and set it aside. I turned away from him and watched Stacy work on the computers. She seemed so immersed in her task. I'd never seen so much determination. Her frown was even more obvious than usual. If Gabrielle were here right now she'd tell me that Stacy would get wrinkles from so much frowning. I think I've spent too much time with my cousin… she's starting to rub off on me. I'm thinking like her!

"Hey Bishop." Stacy called out from the computers. I'm not exactly sure why she calls me by my last name. "Hale was wearing a tux right?"

"Um…Yeah. Remember we were at the party."

"Hmn…that's what I thought." She shrugged and kept her sight on the computer monitor.

"Why? Did you find him?" I asked eagerly.

"No, but I found some footage of a guy with jeans being taken inside the warehouse."

"Jeans?" I asked, "Are you sure it's jeans?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." She looked at me and must have noticed the doubt in my expression. She called me over to check out the video feed. I walked over to Stacy; Nick following behind me, and she replayed the feed. It wasn't completely current for the images were from a few hours earlier…just about the time Sapphire had gone missing. In the footage there was a guy just about Hale's height. He was being escorted into the warehouse building. I couldn't see his face; it was covered with a sack.

The guy wore jeans and a hoodie…wait. I looked at Stacy, "That can't be Hale. This guy is in a hoodie."

"Well then who is it?" She asked.

"I don't know." I admitted.

Well all looked at the footage a bit longer. Stacy zoomed in to get a better look. That's when Nick said. "I think that's me."

"What?" Stacy asked.

I thought about this. It couldn't have been Hale, since Hale was in a tux. And it wasn't Sapphire since this person was obviously a guy. So by default it had to have been Nick, but he wasn't wearing a hoodie now. Did he lose it?

"It has to be Nick." I said, "Hale was wearing a tux."

"Unless they changed his clothes?" Stacy said.

"Why would they go to the trouble of changing his clothes?" Nick asked.

"He has a point." I said.

"But look at his shoes." Stacy said as she pointed to the computer screen. "They're not sneakers like the ones Nick is wearing."

I looked at the shoes Nick was wearing and then the ones on the video feed. They weren't the same. Nick's shoes were sneakers and the ones on this mystery person were dress shoes. These circumstances didn't make much sense. I looked at Nick and he seemed rather uncomfortable. I couldn't tell if he was confused or if he was hiding something. That made me uneasy.

"Nick?" I asked, "Do you remember being taken out of a car like that?" I pointed at the video.

Nick frowned, "No I don't remember that."

"It might have been Hale then!" I exclaimed; hoping that it was Hale I was seeing on camera.

"It might be." Stacy agreed. "But whoever this was must have been moved out before we arrived."

"Or they were hiding him."

No one answered me. I figured we all had a similar thought. Taccone was messing with me and he was going to make me suffer for what I had done. It's infuriating to know I failed to save someone I care so much about. I suppose it wasn't a total failure since we rescued Nick from the warehouse, but I wanted my Hale back.

Stacy didn't seem all that cheerful either. It seemed that as time passed by she got grumpier. Who'd of thought that she was cheerful before? I certainly didn't think that she was a happy person to begin with, but now I'd rather have her than the current Stacy.

"This footage is useless."Stacy sighed.

I looked at the footage once more to see if we had missed something. That's when I saw it. In the bottom left corner I saw the license plate number of the car.

"Maybe not." I said, "Look." I pointed at the screen

"They could be fake."

"Well it's worth a shot ."

"Good point."She smiled, "Better safe than sorry."

I nodded and Stacy went to search the data base. I was never good at researching and hacking things. It was Simon's job to hack computers and gather information from the internet. I looked at Nick and he looked at me. He looked troubled and I wasn't sure how to deal with a post-kidnapped person. It made me worry to see Nick so troubled.

The silence between us was awkward…at least for me. There was always someone making some kind of noise. Even at the mansion, the crew had turned silent. The loss of Hale seemed to have affected all of us. It definitely affected me. I haven't been able to think straight. All I could think of was about Hale and what Taccone might be doing to him; it was driving me crazy just thinking about it. It's true when they say you don't know what you have till it's gone. I missed Hale…more than I thought would be possible. I knew I needed to get him back, no matter the cost. I **will **get Hale back…

"You're Stacy right?" Nick said which startled me since it had been so silent. For a moment I thought Nick was talking to me. I had forgotten that Stacy was here with us; that I wasn't alone. I really have to get myself back together, or I might harm my chances of getting Hale back…and Sapphire too.

"Yeah, so what?" Stacy snapped.

Nick put his hands up in a defensive position, "I was just wondering if you were the girl from Black and White."

Stacy didn't answer and kept fiddling with the computer. She wasn't looking at the video feed anymore. She must have still been looking for the license plate number or perhaps she was doing something else.

"I'll take that as a yes." Nick said.

Stacy looked at Nick, "I never said I was."

"You didn't say you weren't either."

She frowned at him, "So what?"

"Are you?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, do you have any more questions pretty boy?"

"I do actually." He said, "Which one are you? Black or White?"

"Black" she said, "Is that all? Cause you're getting on my nerves." Nick nodded and looked at me. I didn't know what he was up too, though he seemed to be up to something.

"Interesting, I thought Black and White were difficult to find." He looked at me.

"We are…" Stacy answered and finally looked at Nick, "If you try and turn me in, I'll break your neck."

I shivered; her tone was so calm and serious. I didn't doubt that Stacy would break his neck and that unnerved me. "A threat?" Nick asked, "My mom was right, Black is violent."

"Oh you have no idea." Stacy said with a grin, which was rather creepy if you ask me.

"Kat told me you tired to pickpocket her and that's how you two met." She said. It was true, that's how I found him, but I never told Stacy. The only thing I can figure is that she must have done some research on me….or she followed me. I hated that fact but I wasn't going to call her out on it. There was no way I was going to get on Stacy's bad side. I need her to get Hale back and to get this heist done and over with.

"That is how we met." Nick said, "And I've helped her out ever since."

"Hmn…Make sense." She smirked a little. It's like she knew something else.

Stacy worries me; I can never tell what she's thinking. She's not an easy person to read. I decided to change the subject before Stacy threatened to break Nick's neck again. "So have you found anything yet Stacy?"

"No not yet…" she taped a few keys and then grinned, "Never mind, I found what I was looking for."

"The car?" I asked.

"Yeah, turns out it was Taccone's car. What a dumbass. He should have known not to use your own registered car for kidnappings." She rolled her eyes and then grabbed her arm. I hadn't noticed before, but she was wearing a sweater and she wasn't wearing it before.

"Are you alright?" I asked Stacy.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She looked away as she winced. It's as if she didn't want me to notice, but I did.

"You're arm hurts?"

"No I'm just tired." I could tell that she was lying. Clearly, she was in some kind of pain. Then I remember she had been shot when we were at the warehouse.

"Your arm…It's still bleeding isn't it?" I looked at Stacy and she wouldn't look back at me.

"I'm fine." She kept her attention on the computer screen. Gee, she's so stubborn.

"I can see it seeping through the sweater." I pointed out the blood on her sleeve. "You need to take that sweater off."

"It'll stop bleeding soon enough." She said and stood up. She took off the sweater and the bandage on her arm was soaked.

"Stacy! Your arm is soaked."

She sat back down and frowned. "I said its fine. Could we just drop it?"

"Let me see your arm." Nick said.

"No." She kept tapping the keys on the computer. A frown that seemed permanently plastered on her face.

Nick walked up to her and took her arm. "Let me see."

She tried to pull her arm away but winced instead. "I said I'm **fine**."

Nick ignored her and held her down. He unraveled the wrap around her arm; it was soaked in blood. "Gross." I said as my nose crinkled. I couldn't help it; I'm not much for bloody sights. Stacy sighed and looked at me; she shrugged like it was no big deal.

Nick cleaned up her arm a bit and Stacy winced the entire time. It must have been painful. Then Nick frowned, "There's a bullet still in her arm."

I looked at Stacy, "You didn't take it out?"

"No." She frowned, "I couldn't take it out and I doubt any of you know how to do it." She pulled away from Nick and grabbed the first aid kit that was nearby. She opened the box up and pulled out a few things.

"You can't stay with a bullet in your arm." Nick said.

"Shut up." Stacy said as she cleaned off her arm again.

The blood ran down her arm; covering Stacy's arm in a constant flow red ooze. I couldn't continue to look at her or her arm anymore, so I looked at Nick instead. He smiled at me and I blinked. I recognized that smile; he had something planned.

Nick grabbed Stacy's hand gently and said with a rather soothing voice, "Let me help you with that."

Stacy looked at him and smacked his hand away. "Stop it. You're making it worse." She continued to clean her arm. Nick tried once more to get her to stop. He was rather hot…I mean… his tone was soothing. I was surprised that Stacy hadn't stop to listen to him. She just kept hitting Nick and telling him to go away. That didn't work and about five minutes later Nick was fixing up her arm. I'm not sure how he managed to pull it off but he was cleaning her up and covering up her wound. When he was done he looked at Stacy and she frowned at him.

"You need to get that out." He said, "You have to get some medical help."

"I'm not going to a hospital." She said as she waved Nick away.

"You'll keep bleeding." I pointed out.

"I'll be fine." She said. It was the third time she said that to us and I don't think it's true. Stacy was pale, and she normally wasn't pale. She's a tan girl and pale was not part of her skin tone.

"How are you going to get that bullet out?" I asked. "Do you know someone who can do that?"

She didn't answer me for a while. She was staring at the living room. I glanced over and saw what she was looking at. A picture of her crew and Alex was in that picture. They all seemed pretty happy. I looked back at Stacy and she frowned at me.

"Call Alex; he can take the bullet out of my arm. Tell him to come to the warehouse. He'll know where we are."

"Why can't we just take you to him?"

"Because, all of the things we need are here and a little blood loss won't take me down." She grinned.

I sighed and nodded, "Alright." I knew there was no arguing with her and that grin makes me uncomfortable. I got up, pulled out my phone and called Alex. I took a few steps away so I could talk to him and I also didn't want to see Stacy's injured arm.

The phone rang a few times before Alex answered, "Hello?"

"Alex?"

"Yeah? What's wrong?" He sounded rather concerned. I guess he thought something terrible had happened.

"We need you to come over." I said. Trying to sound as calm as possible.

There was a pause then he said, "Where to?"

"Um…" I thought about it for a few seconds before telling him that we were at the warehouse. I didn't tell him what had happened since it would lose time; instead I told him that he needed to come down as fast as possible. He didn't hesitate and told me he was on his way. Alex must have gotten several calls like this before since he didn't ask too many questions. It must be from working with a dangerous crew for so many years.

I hung up the phone and walked over to Stacy and Nick. "He's on his way." I said.

"Good."Stacy said as she swatted Nick. "Stop it that hurts!"

Nick frowned, "I'm trying to keep your arm from bleeding!"

"Well don't be so rough!" She smacked him again, "My arm hurts."

"I'm trying but you're moving too much."

I sighed, "Could you two stop arguing? We still need to figure out how to get Hale back and the heist is in two days."

Stacy looked at me; I was afraid she might hit me for interrupting her arguing. She was in such a bad mood; I didn't really know what to expect. She was frowning again, which only meant something was making her unhappy. And lately…everything was making her unhappy.

Then she sighed, "Well we have Nick. He has to be good for something." She winced and smacked Nick. He smiled innocently. "He can be the inside man."

"But we're still missing someone on the outside." I said.

"He could help you guys sneak into the party. I'll make a good enough distraction." She winced and shoved Nick away. "Then Alex will slip in with you, Bishop. You'll be hiding in a dinning cart and Alex will be driving it. I'll bump the cart near the display case and you don't have to worry. The case has been rigged so it's sitting on top of a large table. That's where you'll slip under it and pull an Italian job.

The power will go out, that's Simon's job. It'll give you some time to get the crown from under the table. Alex will get you out of there before the power comes back on. That's when you and the others make your escape."

I thought about this plan. It seemed solid but it couldn't be that simple. "What about Gabs and the Bagshaw brothers?" I asked.

"The boys will make the explosive for the case. They're also going to set off a small smoke bomb. Gabrielle will distract the guard long enough to allow Simon to hack the lighting system."

"You sure this is going to work?" Nick asked.

"Well if it doesn't…then we're all screwed." She winced.

I blinked, if we failed that meant Silver would have our heads and quite literally. I frowned and looked at Stacy, "Does that mean that your father would have us killed?"

"No." She said, "But he won't help you out of prison, that's for sure."

"You're sure this will work?" Nick asked again.

"It should; it's been rigged from the inside so it should work out for the most part. My father made sure that the case wasn't changed even after the recon mission literally blew up in our face."

Nick looked up at me, "It blew up?"

I nodded, "The explosion had gone bad… and that's when Hale was taken."

"Yeah we weren't at our best." Stacy admitted; suddenly she stood up and pulled out her gun pointing it at the door.

"You haven't changed the locks?" A voice said as the door opened.

I looked up and saw Alex closing the door behind him. Stacy put her gun down and said, "Well we don't need to change the locks. Just because you left doesn't mean we wanted you to leave." She sat back down.

Alex frowned and walked over to us, "Stacy, what happened to your arm?" It was clear he had seen it the moment he came into the warehouse.

"I got shot." Stacy answered plainly.

He shook his head, grabbed her arm and frowned when he got a closer look at her. "You haven't taken it out have you?"

"I wasn't going to let them do it." She smiled innocently, "That's why Kat called you."

"I wanted to take it out." Nick said.

Alex paused and turned, "Where did you come from?"

"We saved him from the warehouse." Stacy said. "Could you get this bullet out? My arm is in a lot of pain."

Alex flicked her nose she pouted, "So Sapph wasn't there? What about Hale?"

Stacy shook her head, "No."

Alex nodded and grabbed the medical supplies. Then unwrapped her arm and frowned, "Gee Stacy this is deep."

"Yeah I know that." She pouted.

Alex cleaned her arm off a bit then took off his belt and handed it to Stacy. "Here." He said, "Bite on this."

Stacy didn't protest; she took the belt and bit on it. Alex grabbed the tweezers and carefully pulled out the bullet out of Stacy's arm. Her face contorted as she tried not to scream in pain. All the while, Alex was completely calm and serious. I couldn't look anymore and looked at Nick instead. He was still looking, so I snuck a glance. Stacy's arm was still bloody and even more blood came out when Alex removed the bullet out of her arm. He set it in a little tin.

"There it's out." He said.

Stacy looked at Alex, "Thanks."

He cleaned up the wound and covered it up with a bandage. "Here's the crystal." Alex said, "It should help."

"How'd you know I'd need it?" Stacy asked.

"I didn't, but Gabrielle didn't need it anymore." He shrugged.

"What?" I asked; by this time I was completely confused. I had no idea what they were talking about. How was the crystal necklace going to help? By the looks of it Nick seemed just as confused as me.

"Nothing Kat." Alex said with a smile. "Now what's the plan?"

"We have to prep for the heist in two days." Stacy said.

"She's right" I said, "I know we're all worried about Hale and Sapphire, but if we don't get this heist done there won't be anyone to save Hale."

"Or Sapph." Alex added.

Stacy frowned, "We need to get that crown."

"He's really pushing you isn't he?" Alex asked Stacy.

"No… it's just like always." She turned away and fiddled with the computer.

Alex rolled his eyes, "Right."

"Alex, take Kat and Nick back to the mansion. The others will need to know what happened and about the new plan too."

"Wait." I said, "What about you?"

"I have to stay here and do a bit of research on my own." She didn't look at me. "I'll meet you guys back at the mansion later."

"Stacy stop playing the tough guy and come back with us. The whole crew needs to be there." Alex said.

Stacy didn't answer.

"He's right." I said, "We'd be a lot safer if we were all together."

Alex's face went pale, "Oh god… I shouldn't have left them alone."

"Who?"

"The team. We have to go."

I was confused as to why Alex was so worried. The rest of the team wasn't alone, Marcus was with them and there were five people in all at the mansion. That's when I realized what Alex meant. The team wouldn't be able to defend themselves from Taccone's team if they attacked the mansion again. Alex would have been the only one who could have been able to fight back. I really need to learn how to fight. It turns out there **is** a need to know how to fight in a world like mine. I just never thought I'd ever need to know.

"So that means we've just made the mistake to leave them alone." I said.

"We have to go now!" Alex exclaimed.

"I'm staying here." Stacy said, "I have things to do. I've got a lead and I want to check it. I want to make sure it leads me to Taccone." She sounded a bit desperate and angry at the same time. I could see what was keeping her sane…it was her sister that kept her together. Now that Sapphire was gone, Stacy was slowing falling apart. I felt sorry for her. She was having such a hard time dealing with the disappearance of her sister. I could see why she had told me to be strong, someone had to do it and she wasn't going to be able to handle it for long.

Alex grabbed Stacy by the arm and pulled her in close, "It's dangerous to be alone."

She frowned at Alex, "Oh yeah? Where were you when we needed you hu? Hu?!" She paused for a moment and pulled away from Alex. He looked down at the ground as if showing his own disappointment. "That's right! You left! You left us alone!"

"Stacy… I didn't mean to hurt you guys."

"Well you did Alex." She huffed, "I'm staying here." She walked over to the kitchen fridge. She opened it and grabbed a packaged brownie. Alex tried to take the brownie away from her but she hissed at him; causing him to let the brownie go.

They continued to argue meanwhile Nick pulled me aside. "Kat? How do Alex and Stacy know each other?" He asked.

"Long story short," I said, "Alex and Stacy used to be part of the same crew."

"He worked with Back and White?"

"Yeah," I looked at him. He was staring at me a bit too intently, "What?"

He shook his head as if getting rid of a thought out of his head. Instead he said, "Black and White are dangerous. They're wanted."

"So am I Nick."

"No that's not what I meant Kat. The last job they were on ended up with half the security guards seriously injured and three killed."

I looked back at Nick; a few days ago this would have surprised me but now…well it wasn't such a surprise. I mean I was threatened by Stacy a couple of times. I saw how good of a fighter she was and she even got in a fight with Gabrielle. Hurting a few guards didn't seem all the bizarre.

"I know how dangerous they can be." I answered.

"Then why are you working with them?" He asked. I looked at him and then it had dawned on me that I had forgotten to tell him about the blackmail that came along with this heist.

I shrugged, "Because I have too."

"What about Alex? He didn't tell you about being part of Black and White's old team."

"True, but he hasn't done anything to jeopardize our safety and-"

"What do you mean jeopardize your safety?" Nick interrupted. I really had wished he had let me finish what I was going to say. Nick looked at me with crossed arms and a frown across his face.

"I mean, he's kept us safe and I'm working with Black and White because their father blackmailed me."

"Their father?" he blinked, "Who's their father?"

"Some man that goes by Silver." I said plainly.

He grinned, which honestly confused me. "Sliver? So they all go by some color?"

I smiled, seeing where his humor was coming from. I hadn't noticed it before… Stacy and Sapphire are known by the colors black and white, while their father was the color silver. "Yeah I guess so."

Nick walked up to me; serious once again, "Kat you didn't tell me that you were being blackmailed."

I stepped back, "It must have slipped my mind."

"What else slipped your mind Kitty Kat?"

I shrugged, "I can't remember." I looked at Stacy and Alex; they were still arguing only now, Stacy was waving a gun in the air and Alex didn't seem all that phased about it. I looked at Nick and he looked back at me.

"She really is violent isn't she?" Nick said.

"Yeah, she is." I answered him. I was relieved he changed the subject. For a moment I thought he might try and kiss me. Not that I hadn't thought about what that would be like, but that was before Hale and I were dating. Nick was not an option for me. I was Hale's girl and I wasn't going to kiss another guy.

"Interpol has certainly underestimated how dangerous she can be."

I smiled, "Well Interpol would have to meet her first." I looked at Nick, "Sapphire isn't as violent as her sister. She's a lot more cheerful."

"So what does Sapphire look like?" Nick asked.

"Hu?" I looked at Nick; then I remembered that he wasn't here to meet Sapphire. "Oh, she looks just like Stacy only with red hair. They're twins."

"Twins?" He smiled as if he learned some great secret. It made me uneasy to see him smile like that. There were times where I felt he was still doing research to turn us in to Interpol. Of course I should know better since he's helped us out so many times before, but it still felt that way. Maybe it wasn't to turn me in, but Stacy and Sapphire….Black and White. They are some of the most wanted along with my family.

"Yeah twins, but I think we should head back to the mansion."

Nick nodded and we both headed for the living room where Alex had restrained Stacy. He had her in a head lock on the ground. "So we have a deal?" Alex asked Stacy.

"Yeah, ow." She squirmed under his grip, but Alex's didn't loosen his grip.

"Now, I'm going to let you go. Don't attack me."

She frowned but sighed, "Fine, now let go you're hurting my neck." She winced when Alex let go of her. He got up and she did too.

Alex faced me, "Kat, you and I are going back to the mansion. Stacy and Nick will stay here."

I blinked, "Why?"

"We can't all go back, it's not safe."

"And it is in here?" Nick asked.

"Yes unfortunately." Stacy answered. "Plus Taccone doesn't know about this place; so our safe bet is to bring everyone here till we solve our problems."

Nick looked at Stacy and then at Alex, "It took a head lock to agree on that?"

Stacy glowered and poked Nick rather hard. She might as well have pushed him. "Shut up twit."

Alex sighed, "Stacy, please."

"Fine, whatever, just go already. We're wasting time talking." She pushed me and Alex out the door and shut the door behind us.

I looked at Alex, "Is she always this moody after she loses a fight?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Alex said as he ran his hand through his hair. "C'mon I parked right over there."

Alex led me to his car. It was a black car, sleek, clean and probably new. As I approached the car I saw what brand it was, an Audi. Its windows were tinted and it almost reminded me of a spy car. I glanced at Alex and then at his car. It didn't seem to fit his style. He seemed more of a sport car type; after all he was the "bad boy" of the group. At least that's what Gabs kept telling me.

I got into the car once Alex unlocked the doors. It had a leather interior and it was inexplicably clean. I wondered if Alex was a spy or was one at one point in his life. I buckled myself in and Alex drove off. He was a fast driver but not a crazy one like Stacy. He swiftly made it through the traffic without any mistakes.

In a matter of minutes we arrived at the mansion. All the lights were on like always. Hale always liked to have all the light on. He said it made him feel like there was someone home even when it was just him and Marcus. We got out of the car and walked inside. The door was unlocked which was strange. Alex frowned and told me to keep close. I put my hand to the dagger Stacy had let me borrow. I forgot to return it, but it is much safer to have some kind of weapon than no weapon at all.

Alex and I walked into the main living room and saw the team huddled around something. The team looked up at us and that's when I saw him, Marcus was on the floor, unconscious.

**Love? Hate? Review please. Reviews make me happy and motivate me to update sooner. :D Hope you enjoyed the chapter. ^-^**


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N:** Sorry for taking **soooo** long to update. School kept me extremely busy, but I wrote every chance I had. It's here now so Yay! Please** REVIEW**; tell me what you think. **Constructive criticism is welcome and so are any ideas you might have. ^-^ **

**Oh and Thank You to all who reviewed. It made my day, just knowing there are people out there who like my Fic.**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Heist Society, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters, which includes the Black and White Roses calling card.

**So here it is enjoy! ^-^**

Chapter 14 Kat POV

I ran over to Marcus; kneeling next to him. I noticed a nasty gash on his forehead covered in blood. He had several cuts on the outside of his arms; my guess whoever attacked Marcus probably left him for dead. That thought made me shiver.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Kitty Kat, we were attacked by some men in suits." Gabs answered. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her makeup was ruined. This was a clear sign that she had been crying.

I frowned and tried to figure out who had done this, "Did they say who sent them?"

"No." Angus said.

"We don't know who they were." Hamish finished.

"It happened so quickly." Simon added.

"Is anyone else hurt?" Alex asked.

"No, we all managed to hide thanks to Marcus." Gabrielle sniffled.

Alex kneeled behind Gabs and whispered something into her ear. She nodded and turned to him crying into his chest. I looked down at Marcus and felt a tinge of fear, "He's still alive right?"

They all looked at me like my statement was the most insensitive thing to say and now that I think about it…it might have been a bit insensitive, but I was concerned about Marcus and I needed to know.

"His breathing is shallow." Simon said, "But he'll be okay with rest and a few stitches to the head." I felt better knowing that Marcus would be okay.

"Do you think you could help him?" I asked Alex.

Alex nodded, "He might only have a minor concussion; Marcus will be alright."

"Will we be able to take him with us?"

Alex frowned, "Probably not. Not in this condition."

"Well then we call an ambulance."

"And explain this incident how?"

I hesitated and looked at Marcus, "I don't know." I frowned, thinking that I might have to leave Marcus unattended. It made me feel terrible, but what was I going to do?

"We're leaving?" Hamish asked.

"Yes," Alex answered quickly, "we need a safe place to hide."

"What about Marcus?"

"I'll find a way to bring him back with us, but now all of you will have to pack what you need. We leave in an hour."

"An hour?" Simon asked.

"Yes, now let's gets get going!"

The boys got up quickly and ran off in different directions. Alex helped Gabrielle to her feet and led her to the couch. I looked at Marcus once more and sighed. I felt terrible; he'd done so much for us over the years and now he's hurt because of this ridiculous battle.

Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped and quickly turned. "It's alright." Alex said, "It's just me."

I sighed in relief, "I'm sorry Alex I'm just a bit jumpy."

He nodded, "You've had a busy night."

"Will you be able to take Marcus to the warehouse?" I asked.

"Yea I can. Do you mind helping Gabs pack? She's still a bit shaken."

"Sure." I said, giving Alex a tired smile. I headed over to the couch where Gabrielle was sitting and she was still shaking. She was staring at her hands, which were covered in little specks of blood. I sat down next to her and asked her if she was alright.

"It happened so fast, Kitty Kat." she said as she stared at her hands.

"I know." I took her hand, "Let's get you cleaned up; then we can pack your things. How does that sound?" I smiled at her trying to seem as composed and confident as possible. I had to follow Stacy's advice and be strong for the others…now more than ever.

Gabrielle nodded and I led her to the restroom. She washed her hands clean and dried them off, while I covered the few cuts she had with different color Band-Aids. She seemed to calm down after all the blood was off her hands.

We walked up stairs to her room and started packing her clothes, which was quite a bit of clothes. Gabrielle packed in silence and I understood why. She was still shaken, as was I, only on a different level. I was still jittery from the fight with Taccone's goons. Every muscle in my body was aching but I had to ignore it and put the pain aside.

I must be tough….for the team.

"Kat?" Gabrielle asked, "Did you find Hale?"

"No, but I found Nick."

She sat on the bed and looked at me, "Nick?"

"Taccone kidnapped him." I said.

"Is he alright?"

"Yeah, he's at the hideout with Stacy. He'll be safe there." I smiled.

Gabs nodded and continued to pack her bag. She packed her clothes, make-up and hair things. She packed a lot of her other belongings. I wouldn't have thought to pack a curling iron nor would I have thought it important enough to pack. Perhaps they were all important to her.

"Are you done Gabs?" I asked, "Have you packed everything you need?"

She looked at me and nodded. Poor Gabs look so tired. "Yeah just let me get Tabby." Tabby is Gabrielle's plushy cat. She's had it since we were little kids. I named it and gave it to her as a birthday gift and I'm glad she still has. Gabs grabbed Tabby and placed him in her bag. "There I'm ready."

I smiled, "C'mon then, Alex is waiting for us down stairs." I grabbed a bag and we both headed down stairs. When we made it to the living room, Marcus was gone as was Alex. I assumed that Alex took Marcus to the warehouse. Simon was pacing in the living room, as if waiting for some terrible news.

Gabrielle walked up to him, "What's wrong Simon?"

"I can't decide what to take." He said.

"Well pack the essentials."

I nodded, "Stacy has a huge station with a ton of electronics."

"So just take a few things?" He asked.

"Just a few things." I answered.

He smiled and continued to pack. Gabs seemed stable enough to help Simon pack, so I left them alone and walked off to find Angus and Hamish. I heard a crashing sound coming from the kitchen and figured that it was them.

I found them in the kitchen. "What are you guys doing?" I asked.

"Nothing!" Hamish answered. He had a piece of bread in his mouth and an armful of snacks and goodies. Angus was setting his armful of food into a bag. I shook my head.

"Did you pack all the things you needed?"

"Yeah." Angus answered with a smile.

"I'm not talking about food." I said.

They paused and then ran off; I guess that was a "no". I sighed and walked outside. I knew I shouldn't be outside alone, but I needed some air. The idea of having such large responsibility was making me tired. I have to be strong for the team and be a good leader. I have to get this heist done in two days or get killed. I also have Taccone trying to make my life a living hell. I would explode if I didn't have any calm and alone time.

I leaned against the wall of the mansion and looked up at the sky. If only I could get my Hale back; I'd be set to take on the world. I frowned at the sky and stood my ground. I was not going to let the pain from my muscles get the best of me. I needed to be on my "A" game. Hale needs me and I need Hale.

"Kat!" I heard someone call for me.

"Coming!" I called back. I looked at the sky once more and promised myself that I'd get through this. I just hope that I don't breakdown under all the pressure. I ran back inside; past the kitchen and into the living room.

"Kat where were you?" Alex asked me.

"Bathroom." I lied.

He looked at me as if making sure that I wasn't lying. Fortunately, he didn't catch my lie. He instead told me to get in the car. I was glad he didn't question me any further. I'd be in so much trouble if he known I had gone outside alone.

I got into the car and sat in the back seat with the boys; Gabrielle sat up front with Alex. I was squashed between Angus and Hamish. How we managed to fit four people in the back seat was beyond me.

"No I won't sit on your lap." I told Hamish.

"But we only have three seatbelts." He said.

I looked at Hamish and didn't budge, "I can manage." The car ride was extremely uncomfortable. I kept getting poked by the Angus's bag and occasionally squashed between the Bagshaw brothers. Gabrielle was lucky; she was sitting in the front with Alex so she didn't have to worry about being smashed. The drive felt longer than it was coming back; it must have been due to my uncomfortable situation. When we did arrive Alex parked his car near the warehouse and we got out of the car.

We grabbed our bags and followed Alex to the warehouse. Once at the warehouse door, Alex used his key to open the door for us. Inside, Nick was asleep on the couch and Stacy was off to the side with Marcus. She was tending to his wounds. I felt a sense of relief to see Marcus here at the hideout.

"Whoa." Simon said as he stepped inside.

"This place has everything." Gabrielle said; looking around.

The Bagshaw brothers headed for the kitchen, which wasn't much of a surprise. After all, they had filled their bags with snacks. Now they needed a place for their food. I shook my head, boys…I probably will never understand them.

I walked over to Stacy; she was now leaning against a wall near Marcus. "What took you guys so long?"

"I gave them time to pack." Alex answered as he walked over to Stacy and me.

"You gave them too much time." Stacy frowned.

Alex didn't comment and instead said, "Here, I found this in Sapph's things." He handed Stacy a piece of paper, which she took. Stacy opened the note and read it; nearly instantly her expression hardened. If expressions could kill…Stacy's surely would kill someone.

She walked over to one of the couches and sat down; Alex sat down next to her, "What does it say?" he asked.

She didn't answer him and instead handed me the note. I carefully took it and opened it. The paper was stained with red splotches of blood that had faded the white paper to yellow. The hand writing on the page was sloppy as if whoever had been writing this couldn't keep their hand from shaking. I was horrified to see this letter. It took me a minute and a half to get past the initial shock and actually read the letter.

_Stacy; Kat: _

_I just wanted you to know that we're okay. Hale and I are okay. Taccone will be reading this, so I can't tell you where we are at. Plus, I don't really know where we're at. This room doesn't have a view, its solid concrete, and damp. Just know we're okay. A bit bruised but nothing too major. Taccone wants you to know that he's going to make you guys "chase us." So I'm guessing getting us back won't be easy. Just stick to the plan; then come and find us. Hale and I can…_

The sentence ended there.

I frowned wondering what had happed for the sentence to end so suddenly. I sat down next to Stacy and looked at her. I knew what she was feeling; I felt it too. Anger, worry; fear…

I frowned. No, I couldn't let this get to my head, but how could I just ignore this letter. It had blood on it. "Kat are you alright?" Alex asked me.

I looked up from the letter, hands shaking and tears welling in my eyes. "There's blood on the letter."

The letter fell out of my hands and to the ground. I couldn't hold back my tears any longer. This situation had finally gotten the best of me. I tried to compose myself; I didn't want my crew to see me like this.

Stacy put her hand on my shoulder and said, "C'mon you need some fresh air." She helped me up and we walked to some stairs. She led me up the steps and out a door, which led to the roof. There were some chairs up by a small wall; it seemed like a private hangout.

I shuffled along with Stacy to the chairs. She looked at me as she leaned back on her chair to look up at the sky. "You can cry up here and no one would know."

"You would know." I answered as I wiped a tear from my face.

"I won't tell anyone." She looked up at the sky, "I'm not much of a crier but I had to get away from Nick. He was getting on my nerves."

"Are you sure that's the only reason you came up here?"

"No, I have other reasons." She kept looking at the sky. There was a moment of silence between us. Stacy never once took her sight off the sky; she seemed deep in thought. I tried not to think, but I couldn't. I kept thinking about the letter.

I started crying about five minutes into the silence. "It'll be okay Bishop." Stacy said, "Sapphire and Hale are fine."

"But the blood?"

"It was just there to make us worry. Taccone is messing with our heads; he wants us to slip up."

I didn't know what else to say. Stacy seemed so cold about this; I suppose she's right. Maybe this is all just a psychological ploy to get me to mess up so Taccone can have his revenge. I sighed and dried the tears off my face with my shirt. "Do you think It'll be hard to find them?"

"No." She looked at me, "I don't think so."

"How can you be so sure?" I asked.

"I trust my sister well enough to know that she can take care of herself." She shrugged, "We've been through worse."

I looked at her and for a moment I saw the "tough girl" I had first met. The girl who'd shrug anything off that came her way. Stacy was cold and getting even colder as the time continued to droll on, but I could see why she was like this. She's been through more than I've ever gone through in my entire life. Even now I realize why Alex was always so distant and silent. He'd been turned cold too. I wonder if it's a consequence of being on Black and White's crew.

I sighed, "This is much tougher than I thought it would be."

"Yeah, well always expect the unexpected." She looked at me, "Or at least that's what I have been told."

"The sky looks nice." I said; I didn't really know what else to say to her. It was getting more awkward by the minute.

She smiled at me, "Yeah the night sky is always nice." I was surprised to see a genuine smile. It was a nice to see the softer side of Stacy.

After a few minute of spending time on the roof with Stacy, I actually started to relax and feel better. The weight on my shoulders felt as if it had been lifted as my worries vanished into the night sky. For a split second, I had no problems at all. I wanted to stay like this forever, but life is never that easy.

Suddenly I heard the door open behind us. I looked back and saw Nick walking toward Stacy and me. "Oh great." Stacy said, "You again."

"It's nice to see you too Stacy." Nick grinned, "Kat, the crew wants you talk to you. They want to know what we're doing next."

"Alright I'll go down." I answered.

Stacy frowned, "Nick, I told you to tell them."

"They want to hear it from Kat." He shrugged; ignoring Stacy's annoyed tone.

Stacy threw a pebble at Nick but he easily dodged it and grinned at her. I swear that these two were flirting.

I walked over to him hoping that my face wasn't red or puffy from all the crying I had done. Stacy followed behind me which made me tense. She felt like my body guard, which was weird. Instead Stacy passed me and shoved Nick out of the way. "Don't come up here again." She warned before heading back inside.

I looked at Nick, "What happened between you two while we were gone?"

Nick's playful expression wilted, "Nothing Kat she just moody, remember?"

"Right, well then let's go inside."

Nick opened the door for me and blast of warm air wrapped around me like a warm blanket. I headed inside and down the stair to the crew. As I made my way down the steps, I could see my family waiting for me in the living room. Alex had his arm around Gabrielle as she leaned on him. Stacy was sitting on the table that was nearby. Simon and the Bagshaw brothers were sitting on the other couch, while Marcus was on the bed that was in the "girly" section of the hideout. He was still unconscious form what I could see. I hadn't even had the courage to see if he was alright. I took a deep breath to keep myself from crying again.

"Kitty Kat," Gabs said, "you have a plan right?"

"Of course she does." Stacy snorted.

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Well I'm talking to you." They glared at each other, which only meant that they still didn't get along.

Alex frowned, "Girls please stop arguing. Kat go ahead; tell them your plan."

"My plan…" I started; well technically speaking it wasn't my plan. Stacy had come up with it so I glanced at her. She looked back at me as if saying to continue. "Right so the plan is…" I explained to the crew every detail of what Stacy and I had talked about. I started from the beginning, when we arrive at the gala event; to how we were to escape. I also made sure to explain everyone's role in this jewel heist.

Everyone was quiet, which was a bit unsettling, "So what do you think?" I asked.

"Sounds really simple; are you sure it's going to work?" Gabs asked me. I figured she would ask me something like this. It's as if she knew that this wasn't my plan.

"It should work." I answered.

"We've got everything we need for it to work. We just need to be careful about Taccone trying to make this job a little tougher."

"She's right." Alex said as he leaned forward and away from Gabs. "Taccone sent us a letter warning us he's going to make this difficult."

"Which is why we all moved here." I added.

"For safety reasons?" Simon asked.

I nodded, "Taccone doesn't know this place so there shouldn't be any more attacks on the crew."

"We're safe here." Stacy said as she winced. Her arm must still hurt.

"Yeah and Marcus will be safe here. He'll be able to recover without any interruptions."

"Now that all of that is settled, we should all rest." Stacy said.

Alex nodded, "Yeah we should all get some sleep. We need to keep our strength up." He looked at Stacy, "Is everything still in the same spot?"

"Of course everything is in the same spot. There was no need for us to change anything. I told you this before." She frowned and headed to the weapon/car area, which I assume, was her section. It certainly fits with her personality.

My crew began to look for a spot to sleep; Alex was showing them the various spots where the beds had been hidden. Gabs had the pullout couch bed. Simon slept on the floor since he didn't feel comfortable enough to sleep in someone else's bed. Angus and Hamish took the other beds that were near Marcus. Nick took the other pullout couch bed.

Alex walked up to me and showed me a bed. It came out of the wall, which was rather cool. "This was my bed." He said, "You can use it. I'll use the nerd's bed." He smiled.

"The Nerd's bed?" I asked.

"Lan," he waved the name away, "It's over there." Alex pointed to the techie section on the warehouse. "Call me if you need anything, okay?"

I nodded and sat on the bed. It was cold but soft. I could tell it hadn't been used in a while. I could smell the dust on the covers. I sighed and lay down on the bed; once everyone was in bed, the lights flickered off. Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep and every time I closed my eyes I kept seeing the blood splattered letter. It kept me wondering, whose blood that could be. It was an unsettling thought.

I couldn't take much off my own thoughts anymore so I got out of bed and headed to the roof. I would have preferred to take a walk but I'm sure Alex wouldn't be too happy with me sneaking out and I didn't want to risk Taccone trying to kidnap me again.

As I opened the door to the roof, I saw Stacy leaning on her elbows along the edge of the building. She was looking down at the street. I turned around when I say her and headed back inside.

"Where you going?" Stacy asked.

"I thought you might want your space." I replied.

"Its fine, you can come up here."

I walked over to her; she seemed much calmer than usual. It was like seeing the softer side of Stacy, which seems like it only comes out at night. She looked up at the sky, "Couldn't sleep?"

"Yeah."

She nodded, "Me neither."

"You miss your sister don't you?" I asked.

"Don't you miss Hale?" She looked at me.

"I do miss Hale. I love him."

She looked back up at the sky, "I know I've said this before, but we'll get them back. Taccone doesn't know who he's messed with." She sneered and for once I felt comforted by that expression.

Stacy and I stood silently looking up at the stars. Stacy didn't say anything to me it seemed like we had some sort of silent understanding that we were both grieving. It was a bit strange to be able to bond with someone like Stacy. I'm sure if it hadn't been for Hale and Sapphire being kidnapped, this bonding would have never happened. Better yet I might have still disliked her for flirting with Hale.

It was late into the night when I started getting sleepy. I tried to fight it, but my body was aching in protest. "Go to sleep." Stacy said, "I'll be up here keeping watch."

"You need sleep too." I argued.

"Yeah, but I can go a while without sleep." She looked at me, "So go to sleep."

I wanted to object and tell her that I wasn't sleepy or tired but my body told me otherwise. I gave in and headed back down after saying goodnight to Stacy. It was a bit tough to walk in the dark, but luckily for me the glow of the computers gave enough light to keep me from falling down the stairs. Once I made it to the bed, I lay down and looked up at the ceiling. I fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

><p><strong>Love? Hate? Review please. Reviews make me happy and motivate me to update sooner. :D Hope you enjoyed the chapter. ^-^<strong>


	16. AN: Chapter 15 Snippet

**A/N:** Sorry for taking **soooo** long to update. School keeps me extremely busy. It's** NOT** a full chapter just something to keep you all reading.** Sorry for not having a full chapter.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer:** I do not own HS, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters.

**So here is the snippet. Enjoy! ^-^**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 15 Kat POV<strong>

I could hear my voice being called in the distance. It was faint but surly it was there. A whisper in the wind; that's all it was. "Kat." My name. How sweet the sound of the familiar voice. I wasn't sure who it was but the voice was warm and comforting. I didn't know where I was or where I was going but I followed the sound of my name. Suddenly a shriek pierced the air. I froze. I finally recognized that voice.

"Hale? Hale is that you?!" I called out. The warm feeling I had turned ice cold. The place I was in turned pitch black. I couldn't see a thing. I stumbled around with my hands out stretched; hoping to find something. "Hale, where are you?"

"Kat? Kat, over here!" I heard the voice say once more. I ran toward his voice.

"Hale?!" I kept running; not sure where I was going. All I was did was follow Hale's voice. I knew he was around here somewhere. I called out for his name once more.

"Kat!" He answered; it was so clear now. I knew where to go. I ran straight towards him. Suddenly a bright light flashed in my face. It startled me and I feel over.

"Kat!"

It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the lighting but that's when I saw him. Hale, he was tied to a chair; his face bloody, bruised, and swollen. I scrambled to my feet and ran to him. I held his face in my hands. He winced but gave me a lopsided smile.

"Hale are you okay?" I asked.

"Never been better Kitty Kat." He gave me his signature smile. I kissed his cheek and hugged him. "A little too tight Kitty Kat."

"Oh I'm sorry." I let him go and looked at him. Dark purples and blues outlined his eyes. Red stained his nose and lips. His hair was messy and shiny. His clothes were torn and his shoes were missing.

"Kat, you have to get out of here." He said.

"What? I'm not leaving without you Hale." I tugged at the rope that bound his wrists to the arm of the chair.

"No Kat, you have to leave. Now!"

"I'm not leaving without you!" I tugged on the ropes once more, "They won't come off."

Suddenly the ropes climbed up my arm and wrapped around me. I tried to shake them off but I fell back as the rope finished immobilizing me. I looked up and saw Taccone looking down at me with a creepy grin. Hale was kneeling before me, his hands behind his back and a knife at his throat. He was smirking, as if she said something amusing.

I gasped at the sight, "Hale!" I looked at Taccone, "Let him go!"

Taccone didn't pay much attention to me, so I tried to get up. I looked down at myself and found that was tied to a chair, but I was sure I had fallen to the ground. Suddenly Taccone laughed, which made me look up. He grinned at me and I frowned. "Let him go. You have me; now let him go!"

Taccone didn't answer me instead he snapped his fingers. The next thing I saw was red. "Hale!" Blood splashed on my face. Hale gasped for air. Blood was everywhere. I struggled against the bonds. There was nothing I could do…Hale just collapsed to the floor.


	17. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Sorry for taking **soooo** long to update. School keeps me extremely busy but finally I have the full chapter.** Sorry for taking so long.  
><strong>

**Disclaimer:** I do not own HS, Ally Carter does. I only own the plot and any unrecognizable characters.

**So here it is. Enjoy! ^-^**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 15 Kat POV<strong>

I could hear my voice being called in the distance. It was faint but surly it was there. A whisper in the wind; that's all it was. "Kat." My name. How sweet the sound of the familiar voice. I wasn't sure who it was but the voice was warm and comforting. I didn't know where I was or where I was going but I followed the sound of my name. Suddenly a shriek pierced the air. I froze. I finally recognized that voice.

"Hale? Hale is that you?!" I called out. The warm feeling I had turned ice cold. The place I was in turned pitch black. I couldn't see a thing. I stumbled around with my hands out stretched, hoping to find something. "Hale, where are you?"

"Kat? Kat, over here!" I heard the voice say once more. I ran toward his voice.

"Hale?!" I kept running; not sure where I was going. All I did was follow Hale's voice. I knew he was around here somewhere. I called out for his name once more.

"Kat!" He answered; it was so clear now. I knew where to go. I ran straight towards him. Suddenly a bright light flashed in my face. It startled me and I feel over.

"Kat!"

It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the lighting. Hale, he was tied to a chair; his face bloody, bruised, and swollen. I scrambled to my feet and ran to him. I held his face in my hands. He winced but gave me a lopsided smile.

"Hale are you okay?" I asked.

"Never been better, Kitty Kat." He gave me his signature smile. I kissed his cheek and hugged him. "A little too tight, Kitty Kat."

"Oh I'm sorry." I let him go and looked at him. Dark purples and blues outlined his eyes. Red stained his nose and lips. His hair was messy and shiny. His clothes were torn and his shoes were missing.

"Kat, you have to get out of here." He said.

"What? I'm not leaving without you, Hale." I tugged at the rope that bound his wrists to the arm of the chair.

"No Kat, you have to leave. Now!"

"I'm not leaving without you!" I tugged on the ropes once more, "They won't come off."

Suddenly the ropes climbed up my arm and wrapped around me. I tried to shake them off but I fell back as the rope finished immobilizing me. I looked up and saw Taccone looking down at me with a creepy grin. Hale was kneeling before me, his hands behind his back and a knife at his throat. He was smirking, as if he said something amusing.

I gasped at the sight, "Hale!" I looked at Taccone, "Let him go!"

Taccone didn't pay much attention to me, so I tried to get up. I looked down at myself and found that was tied to a chair, but I was sure I had fallen to the ground. Suddenly Taccone laughed, which made me look up. He grinned at me and I frowned. "Let him go. You have me; now let him go!"

Taccone didn't answer me; instead he snapped his fingers. The next thing I saw was red. "Hale!" Blood splashed on my face. It was warm against my skin. Hale gasped for air and red was everywhere. I struggled against the bonds. There was nothing I could do…Hale just collapsed to the floor.

"Hale!" I scramed.

"Ow, God dam it Bishop be careful!" Stacy yelled at me as she pushed my face away. I fell back onto the bed.

"Where…where is Hale?" I asked.

"With Taccone." She rubbed her nose and frowned at me, "What's the matter with you?"

I shook my head, "Nothing."

"Right."

"I'm fine." I lied.

"I'm not going to pester you. Now go get something to eat. We have a long day of planning today." She walked off to the computers. I sat up and looked around the room. Everything was the same. Cars parked off by the computers. The crew was all here and Marcus was still lying on the bed unconscious. I rubbed my face. My heart was heavy in my chest and my skin felt sticky. I could still feel the warmth of the blood that splashed my face in my dream.

It was all just a horrible dream.

"Kitty Kat, come and eat before the Bagshaw brothers eat all the food!" Gabrielle called.

"We'll save some for her." Hamish said as he stuffed his face with a brownie. I smiled and got out of the bed. My shirt clung to me in all the wrong places. I could still feel the sweat on my shirt. I hoped no one noticed my sweat or my smell. I subtly sniffed my underarms and sure enough there was a smell. Gross.

I walked over to the kitchen; Hamish smiled at me and passed me a sandwich. "See we saved something for you Kitty."

I looked at the sandwich; it was sloppily made but it had all my favorites inside. I smiled at the boys and took the sandwich with me to the living room. Gabrielle was sitting down watching TV with Alex. They were snuggling, and it made me think of Hale. Suddenly I didn't want the sandwich anymore.

I watched TV with Alex and Gabs. It was an old cartoon show of a cat chasing a mouse. I felt like the mouse being chased by a giant cat that was eager to eat me. The show continued on for another half our and I hadn't realized that I finished my sandwich. I didn't savor it and I certainly didn't realize I was eating a napkin.

"Kat are you alright?" Gabrielle asked.

I turned and faced her, "What?"

"You're eating a napkin, Kitty."

"I am?" I frowned and looked down at the napkin in my hand. I had nibbled a piece of it off. "That's gross." I admitted.

"What's wrong Kat?" Alex asked.

"Just got directed."

"Thinking about Hale?" Gabs asked.

"Yeah…"

"Don't worry Kitty, we'll get him back."

Alex nodded, "We'll get them back. Stacy can be very determined."

"Yeah I think I can see that." I smiled and sunk into the couch. Alex got up from his seat as did Gabs. I suppose they saw I needed my space. I watched TV alone. New cartoon shows came up, and most of them were old shows. I spotted blue prints on coffee table in front of me, so I leaned forwarded and peered at them. Where had Stacy gotten old fashioned blueprints? I couldn't help but wonder where she got most of her intel. It was always old school. It reminded me of the first time Alex worked with us he always seemed to have favored the old ways to the newer tech. It granted him a spot with Uncle Eddie.

Soon I was lost in the world of blueprints. They were just as detailed as a 3D model of the building. I saw every exit and every blind spot. I knew I could hide by the plant and have clear access to the display case. The only problem would have been the guards near the case and the motion sensors on the case. Damn. Why was this so difficult?

The couch suddenly moved and an arm wrapped around my shoulders. "What are you thinking about?" Nick asked me.

"The plan." I answered.

"You never stop thinking do you?"

"No, I guess I don't." I looked at him and he smiled. My face flushed; causing my cheeks to burn with embarrassment. He was cute but still Nick was no Hale. I moved away and stared back at the blueprints. I could feel him staring at me and it made me uncomfortable.

"What's the matter Kat?" He asked.

"Nothing." I said, "I'm just thinking about what we should do."

"You don't have a plan?"

"Yes of course we have a plan." I looked at him. "Remember?"

"You mean Stacy's plan?" He sounded a bit disappointed.

"Yeah…Is that wrong?"

"No, but do you really trust her enough to follow one of her plans?"

"Her sister is missing too. I doubt she'd be stabbing me in the back."

Nick frowned and leaned back into the couch. He didn't say anything but he didn't have too. I knew what he was thinking. What if all of this was just another plot and Sapphire wasn't really missing? Could Sliver and Taccone be working together; just to get back at me? There was that possibility and frankly it was quite frightening.

Nick sighed and sat back up. He grabbed the blueprints and said, "Where did you get these?"

"Um…Stacy had these."

"Figures." He set the blueprints down, "She's just her hands in everything doesn't she?"

I frowned, "She's not that bad once you get to know her."

"And you truly know her?" He looked at me. His expression was clear and stern. He didn't trust Stacy.

"Alex does." I countered.

"Hmn, well that's not much to go on."

"Alex hasn't leaded us wrong yet."

"Don't bother explaining it to him, Bishop." Stacy said from behind me. I turned and saw her frowning; much like always. "He doesn't deserve it."

Nick frowned at Stacy and once again they stared down at each other. This was becoming a regular occurrence. "You've just brought problems to this crew. So has Alex."

"Alex hasn't done anything wrong for this crew. His only mistake was knowing Sapphire and me." She sneered. "So back off." She stepped closer to Nick as he stood. I looked up at both of them. This was not good. Not good at all.

I stood up between them, "Guys, now is _not_ the time to fight this."

Stacy pushed me down onto the couch with one hand, "Sit this out Bishop, you might get hurt."

"Don't treat Kat like that." Nick frowned.

"I'll do whatever the fuck I want, Interpol _brat_!" She shoved Nick and he stumbled back.

"I don't hit girls, but for you I'll make an exception." He swung at her and hit her square in the jaw.

Stacy staggered and glared at Nick. She pulled out her knife from her back pocket and pointed it at Nick, "You're dead."

I quickly stood between her and Nick, "Stacy, please calm down." I tried to sound calm and collected, but I was freaking out on the inside.

"_Move_ Bishop, I don't want to hurt you."

"No. You'll only hurt Nick."

"Katarina, _move._" She said with more force.

Suddenly she stepped up to me and I was shoved aside. I fell onto the couch and where I once stood Alex. He was frowning and holding Stacy close. She blinked and her expression turned pale. She stepped back and pulled her knife away. He dropped to his knees; holding his stomach.

"Alex!" I heard Gabrielle scream from across the room. No one moved. No one dared get close to Stacy. Her expression hardened quickly as she gripped her knife.

"Damn you Alex! Why the fuck did you get in the way!"

Alex coughed; a bit of blood stained his lips, "You would have hurt Nick."

"He was talking bad about you and you defend him!" She threw her knife at Nick and only missed by a sliver. The knife imbedded itself in the wooden post not that far behind Nick.

"Stacy…calm down." His shirt was covered in blood. Gabrielle finally approached and helped Alex onto the couch.

"Get away from him!" She yelled at Stacy. I looked up at Stacy and saw the panic in her eyes. She hid it with a frown and ran up to the roof.

"Gabs we have to get him to a hospital."

"No." Alex said. "I won't make it. Stacy has a mean jab." He gave us a weak smile.

"Alex, don't talk like that!" Gabrielle held on to him.

"Gabs we have to get him moving!" I frowned and suddenly I realized that no one here knew how to drive. Marcus, who had been driving us everywhere, was still unconscious and Alex couldn't move.

"Kat, it's okay." Alex smiled at me and closed his eyes. Gabrielle clung to Alex and cried. The others tried to console Gabrielle but nothing worked. Shock and confusion filled the room. Nick was pacing off to the side; frowning. Time was ticking away and yet no one knew what to do.

"No!" Gabs screamed as Alex's body turned limp. The room turned quiet and we all paused for a moment. Hamish and Angus pulled Gabs away from Alex. They passed her to Simon, who led her to one of the beds. Hamish covered Alex with a bed sheet.

Nick walked up to me and pulled me aside, "See what happened, Kat? Stacy just killed her friend. You don't think she'll stab you next?"

I stood my ground and stared back at him. He towered over me, "No Nick, I don't think she will. She has a lot riding on this too."

"I hope your right." He glanced to the side. "We can't afford to lose anymore crew members."

"I'll go talk to her."

"Now?" He frowned, "She could hurt you."

"No she won't…she hasn't yet."

"You better be sure about this, Kat."

I sighed and nodded, "Take care of Gabs for me." And with that I turned and headed up to the roof.

It was cold on the roof. The night was especially unforgiving as if it knew just what had happened only moments ago. Stacy was sitting on the ledge of the roof looking down and hugging her knees. She didn't turn to look at me as I came through the door. She didn't even flinch when I walked up behind her. It didn't seem like she cared to know who had come up to her private sanctuary.

"Stacy?" I asked.

"What?" She answered.

"Are you okay?"

She laughed, "You came up here just to see if _I_ was okay?" She paused for a moment. "He's dead isn't he?"

"Yeah…he is."

"I knew he wouldn't make it." Her tone had change from one of worry to a hardened tone.

"He would have if we took him to a hospital." I countered.

"No, that was meant to kill." She turned and faced me. "I'm not just a thief, Bishop. I'm more of a mercenary." She got up off the ledge and walked up to me. I stepped back and she frowned. "Your crew has a day and a half to prepare for the heist. I'll still be on the inside when this all goes down. If you need me I'll be there."

"We're not going through with your plan?"

"No, but I'm sure you can change it so it works." She placed her hands in her pockets. "Katarina, I'm letting you all stay here in the warehouse till you get Hale back."

She must have been serious, she rarely calls me by my first name. But why would she have thought that she wasn't going to let us stay? "We can't leave Alex here and there's no time to bury him, so I'll take him and hide him till the time comes." There was no emotion in her tone. It was as if she was just going through with the motions of getting rid of a body.

Over the past few days, I had wondered why Stacy was so cold and I wondered how none of this ever seems to bother her. I'd only caught a glimpse of the soft interior she had and it had been torn to shreds more than once. I only feared that Stacy had lost all her emotions to keep from hurting inside.

"Your Gabrielle can morn him later." She frowned and headed back inside. I followed behind her all the way back to the couch. Gabs was still crying and being comforted by Simon.

"Stacy…" Simon said as he looked up in our direction, "you're back."

"Yeah." Stacy answered and looked down at Alex's covered body. Gabrielle pushed away from Simon and ran at Stacy. She tackled Stacy to the ground and grabbed her by the hair. Stacy didn't flinch; didn't even fight back. She took every hit Gabrielle sent her way. The fight lasted a few minutes but it felt like hours until Nick pulled Gabrielle away from Stacy. She was a bit bloody from the punches but Stacy didn't seem to mind.

"She killed him!" Gabrielle screamed.

Stacy stood up and wiped the blood off from the corner of her mouth, "Yeah and now I'm going to take him away."

"No you can't!" Gabs squirmed to free herself from Nick's grip.

"Alex can't stay here and _you_ have to stop crying. You all have a big heist less than two days! You can all mourn him _later_." She picked Alex up off the couch and headed to one of the parked cars. Gabrielle continued to fight against Nick, but we all knew Stacy was right. We couldn't fall behind on our plans…no matter how difficult it was.

Stacy placed Alex in the car and drove off. Gabrielle broke down into another sobbing fit and hugged Nick. He tried to comfort her as best as he could. The room was silent and the tension was high. I felt the weight fall on me once more.

I walked up to the roof and let cold night air wrap around me. It was a complete mess up on the roof. The chairs had been flopped over and a small potted plant had been thrown against a wall. How hadn't I noticed it before? I wasn't sure. I walked over to the plant and picked it up. On the side of the broken pottery was a name…Alex. I knelt and picked up the remaining pieces curious to see what they would say.

I placed them all together and found a tiny message on the plant:

_The world spins a little bit slower every time I'm near you. ~ Alex_

Had he written this for Stacy? I was sure that he and Sapphire might have had a thing. I've certainly walked into something I won't be able to fix. I guess not everything can be put back together again.

I stood up and looked at the night sky. I don't know how long I'd be up on the roof. I watched the moon cross the night sky and I watched airplanes fly by. I could see why Stacy liked it up here.

"Kat!" Hamish screamed.

I turned to his voice, "What? What is it? Something happen?"

"You gotta come down and see this."

"See what?"

"Just, c'mon." He walked over to me and grabbed me by the hand. He led me down the steps and to a computer where Simon was working. Images were flashing on the screen, some were of me and some were of the crew. Even Stacy and Sapphire were there.

"Where did you get these?" I asked Simon.

"I was checking the computer for surveillance footage and managed to hack into a nearby computer…this was on it."

"Well where is it?"

"Not far…" He typed away codes and numbers I didn't understand. "That's strange it stays the other computer is just outside this door…"

We all looked at the door, "Do you think he's found us?" Angus asked.

"How could he? He doesn't know this place." Nick countered.

Suddenly the door opened. In the doorway stood Stacy; her mascara was ruined and her eyes red. She held a messenger bag close to her chest. She walked a few steps inside and fell to her knees. The door closed behind her silently. She looked straight at me. "You have to see this."

"See what?" I asked.

"Kat she has the computer." Simon looked at me in disbelief.

"Stacy, where did you get that computer?"

She hugged the bag tighter, "Taccone gave it to me."

"You spoke with Taccone?"

Stacy nodded but didn't say more. She looked broken, more than I'd ever seen her. I slowly walked over to her and pried the messenger bad from her; then helped her to the couch. I handed the computer over to Simon so he could work his magic. I sat down with Stacy on the couch while I waited for Simon.

"It's mostly the same things I had hacked into. Kat there isn't much else on here you haven't already seen..." His voice faltered.

"What? Did you find something new?" I asked.

"The video." Stacy whispered.

"What?"

"Look its Hale!" Hamish said. I rushed over to see.

"No don't watch the video!" Stacy yelled from across the room. Gabrielle stirred in her bed but luckily didn't wake. She wouldn't have been happy to see Stacy again.

"What? Why not…" And that's when I saw what she meant.

My nightmare had come to life. It was real this time around. Hale was tied to a chair; Sapphire was nearby. They were both bloody and beaten. I wouldn't know where to begin to describe the horrors I saw, but when the video was over the room spun. I couldn't think straight; then everything went dark.

I woke up on the bed near the computers. Stacy was sitting at the foot of the bed. She was looking out at everyone, who where all asleep. I sat up and asked, "What time is it?"

"Midnight." Stacy answered me.

"They all went to sleep early?"

"They had a little help."

"You?"

She nodded, "I spiked their food. They needed the rest."

"They won't like that." I said.

"They already hate me. It makes no difference now."

"I don't think that's true."

She shrugged, "It doesn't matter now." I sat there in silence for a bit more, wondering if the video was real and not some kind of dream. I clung to the blanket and shivered. It didn't feel like it had been a dream.

I looked at Stacy, "Was it real?"

"Yeah the video was real." She gripped the bed sheets.

"Was that why you came in so shaken?"

"Yeah, I just couldn't take it." She turned and faced me. "There was a second video…don't watch it. I need you to be the strong one from now on."

"You talk like you're going crazy."

"I am…just a little." She smiled at me and I thought that maybe she had gone crazy. It had finally taken its toll on her. Her entire life was just too much to take. I nodded back at her and she told me to go back to sleep. I didn't protest like I had done once before. I was too tired to fight back and argue. I was too tired to even want to continue this battle with Silver. He was more on the back burner and Taccone was the real threat. Silver was just a decoy.

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><p><strong>AN: I hope you liked this chapter...and don't hate me :)<strong>


	18. AN: Announcement

Hi everyone! I'm sorry for leaving you all hanging and not updating for nearly 6 months but I think this time I have it! A new chapter I mean. I'm writing it now and so far i'm liking it. :) Lets hope this is the one I post, because just like you, i'm anxious to get this chapter posted. :D


	19. Chapter 16

**AN: Alright here it is! Sorry for the long wait but first it was school and then it was writers block and then my mother got sick so I had to care for her...But now ITS HERE! so enjoy! :)**

**I almost gave up on the story... but anywho Heist Society belongs to Ally Carter; everything else belongs to ME!**

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><p>Chapter 16 Kat POV<p>

"Okay deep breath Kat, you can do this. You steal all the time…but then again I don't normally set explosives. Okay…breathe in…and out." I was trying to stay calm, thought it really wasn't helping that Hamish was pushing the dessert cart I was hiding in. The cart kept stopping as people asked him for a dessert and I was freaking out that the small explosive would accidently go off in my hands. Although, the Bagshaw brothers assured me that it wouldn't happen. I still wasn't so sure. It took them five tries to keep it from exploding accidently so I had every right to be paranoid.

The cart continued forward; finally without any interruptions. It stopped and I waited for my cue. I wondered what would happen if we had had more time to grieve Alex's death. Would I be less nervous? Would I still want to cry? I wasn't sure but for now I had to concentrate. It was now or never. This was my chance to get Silver off my back and to focus all my strengths on saving Hale.

"Oops, I'm so sorry Miss." I heard Hamish say. "I'll clean that up for you."

"Gah get…get away!" I heard the girl scream. The cart jolted when someone bumped into the cart. I clung to the bottom of the cart with my dear life. I couldn't afford to fall out and get caught. I took another deep breath to calm myself as I waited for my cue.

"I'll get you another one Miss." Hamish said. He reached under the cart and winked at me. I handed him a dessert and smiles back. "There you are Miss; I'm terribly sorry."

I took my leave and slipped out of the cart and under the display. "I will notify your superior!" the lady said.

"No, no that won't be necessary." Hamish said. I set to work on attaching the small device to the bottom of the display. It was a tight fit underneath but I managed to place the explosives in the center. I quickly slipped out from under the display back into the cart. "It's all clear." I whispered into my coms unit.

"Yes, yes I will have that fixed; again I am truly sorry Miss."

"You better…ugh this dress is a one of a kind and now it's ruined!"

The cart moved again. I sighed in relief that were finally on our way out and the job would be half done. Hamish stopped the cart and I came out. We were in a large pantry. He smirked at me. "I never thought spilling dessert would be so much fun."

"Don't get too excited," I said as I brushed a strand of hair from my face, "We still have the rest of the heist to complete."

Hamish showed me the detonation device, "be careful not to set it off early. It'll set the off the smoke bombs."

"Got it."

"I'm going back out, don't go anywhere just yet." He smirked.

I frowned back at him, "Of course I won't."

"Right, so Angus will retrieve the jewels and…" Suddenly the door opened.

"Hey!" A man yelled. Hamish jumped and accidently dropped the detonation device; setting off the smoke bombs. The man flinched. Hamish grabbed me by the hand and led me out. The entire plan flashed before me and crumbled to dust.

Hamish would ruin Stacy's dress so she could help buy me time to set the explosive under the display. Then Stacy, Nick and Gabrielle would cause an ever bigger scene to divert attention while the smoke bombs were set off. Simon would keep the alarms from going off and Angus would detonate the explosives. But now that the smoke bombs had gone off ahead of plan; we needed to change the plan. Only this time, I didn't have a plan B.

Hamish pulled me through the kitchen and towards the giant smoke cloud. "Where are you going?" I asked. My mind was reeling and was trying to focus on the problem at hand. We had to escape.

"Out the back way." Hamish answered.

"Through the smoke?!" I yelled, the room only getting louder as the guests all panicked. "You got to be kidding me."

Hamish pulled me forward, "Kat we gotta get out of here. We'll get caught if we exit with the others."

I thought about it and well…he had a point. "Okay." The smoke eased its way across the kitchen and was getting closer by the second. Hamish looked at me and smiled reassuringly. He took my hand and we both disappeared into the thick of the smoke.

I don't recommend running through smoke unprotected. It's not easy to do and you can easily get disoriented. It's foggy and dark inside a smoke cloud. It caused my eyes to sting and burn; no amount of blinking or rubbing would ease the pain. Deeper inside the smoke cloud I couldn't breathe or walk straight. I stumbled along as Hamish pulled me through the smoke. I wasn't even sure if he knew where he was going.

I dropped to the floor when my breathing became too much to bare. Hamish helped me up and led me through the cloud. My feet dragged along the ground as Hamish led me out. My vision blurred and I don't remember much after that. I must have passed out on the way to the van. This is another reason walking through a smoke cloud is _not_ recommended.

The next thing that I do remember is Angus shaking me roughly. I was in the van and the crew was all inside. All except for Stacy, who should have been here to drive us all back to the warehouse. I sat up and looked around at everyone, "Where's Stacy?"

"I couldn't find her on my way out." Nick said.

"Why not, what happened?"

"We couldn't get the jewels."

"What?" I blinked. This possibly couldn't be true.

"We were caught off guard." Nick frowned, "The smoke came too early and we weren't ready for it."

"As soon as the smoke hit the ceiling the fire alarms went off." Angus said. I didn't remember any fire alarms while we escaped through the back door.

"Everyone was evacuated before we even had the chance." Gabs added.

I frowned, "So what happened to Stacy? Why is she not here?"

"She got lost in the crowd and we were separated." Nick supplied.

"She's probably run away like a coward." Gabrielle sneered.

"I don't think she would do that." I said.

"Why else isn't she here?"

"I don't know, maybe she got caught up with all the other party guests."

"Whatever." Gabs frowned.

I sighed and looked at Simon, "What happened to the alarms I thought they'd be shut off?"

Simon shifted in his seat, "I was blocked off by the system. It was much faster than anticipated. I've never seen anything like it before." His eye widened in what appeared to be excitement. I couldn't help but smile at Simon's expression. It made this failed job a little less horrible.

"Should we look for Stacy?" I asked.

"No, I think we should wait for her at the warehouse." Nick said.

"Yeah, she always has some crazy trick up her sleeve." Gabrielle frowned. She did have a point. Stacy always had more back up plans than me.

"Alright then, we'll wait for her at the warehouse…anyone know how to drive?" Hamish and Angus grinned. At that moment I instantly regretted asking.

"I'll drive." Nick said.

"Aw." Hamish and Angus said in complete unison.

I sighed in relief. At least Nick had the most experience driving that didn't involve crashing. The drive back to the warehouse was…awkward. No one spoke. Simon was busy working on his laptop, Gabs was staring out the window and the Bagshaw brothers were asleep. This was not a normal sight. I mostly stared out the window and wondered what happened to Stacy.

Once we arrived at the warehouse, Nick parked the van outside in the back area. I waited as everyone exited the van. I was the last one out since I was sitting on the side where there was no door. There aren't very many one sided van anymore. Nick helped me out of the van and led me back inside the warehouse. His body was sturdy and warm against mine. He didn't look at me much and his face presented a frown. It was outlined with the soot left behind by the smoke cloud.

Inside, Nick lead me to the couch and helped me sit. I smiled back at him as thanks. He only nodded and went back to close the warehouse door. I watched as everyone was cleaning up and resting. They were ruffled and….disheveled? Would that be the proper term for what happened? I would assume so. It was like we just walked out of a battle field with soot, tattered clothes, and scrapes all over our bodies. Gabs was the most unhappy of her appearance. The Bagshaw brothers had gone back to being themselves. They were chattering about how great the smoke bomb worked. Well at least someone was happy.

"Does…does anyone have Stacy's number?" Simon asked. I looked up and frowned. I hadn't even considered getting Stacy's number. She was always around and there wasn't really a need. Everyone shook their head, "No," as a reply.

"What good will it do?" Gabs asked, "We're all dead now. Do you not remember the death threat we all have? Because I do."

"I don't think she would allow it." I said.

"How can you be so sure?" Gabs frowned, "She killed Alex!"

"It was an accident."

"No it wasn't. She would have killed Nick if Alex hadn't stepped in the way. How can you side with her?!"

"I'm not on anyone's side." I raised my arms in defense. "She wouldn't let us fail; she has just as much riding on this as we do."

"Lies!" Gabrielle shoved me.

I staggered back but I didn't retaliate, "I'm not lying. You would know if I was."

"I don't believe you."

"You don't…" My phone rang, so I wasn't able to finish my thought. I quickly dug my phone out of my pocket. The number was private which unfortunately made it untraceable. I frowned at the phone. I've never had a blocked number appear on my phone but I figured it had to be Stacy or Taccone… I put that disturbing thought aside and answered the call.

"Bishop?" The voice asked.

"Stacy?" I blinked, "Where are you?"

There was a brief pause, "I'm…I'm tied up at the moment. You gotta come get me. I uh have the jewels."

"The jewels…how?"

"Long story but uh you have to come and pick me up. I need help."

"Help?" I frowned, she never asked for help. What could be going on? "Well where are you?"

"The Hale mansion."

"The mansion?"

"Yeah just come alone alright?"

"Why alone?"

"Ow…just…just do it."

I frowned, "Okay, I will. I'll come alone."

"Good." Then the line went dead. I hung up the phone and looked at the crew. I wasn't sure what to make of this.

"So?" Nick asked.

"She's at Hale's mansion." I said.

"What is she doing there?" Gabrielle frowned.

"I'm not sure but she sounded strange. She asked for help."

"How is that strange?" Simon asked as her peered over his laptop.

"She told me herself that she doesn't like asking for help."

"And so you're going to listen to her and go alone?" Hamish asked.

"Well I think the best would be to bring back up just in case it's some kind of trap." I smiled, "She has the jewels. This might turn out well after all." That put a smile on everyone's face, well all except for Gabs. She's still quite upset with Stacy and pretty much hates her for killing her boyfriend. I suppose I couldn't blame her.

"We'll keep you on coms;" Simon said, "that way we can make sure to hear everything that goes on."

Gabrielle smiled, "That's a great plan, Simon!" She hugged him. His face was tomato red.

Simon cleared his throat and pushed his glasses back, "If anything goes wrong we'll be able to hear it and keep track of you."

"Good." I smiled, "We're back in business."

We all loaded into the van; Nick drove us to the Hale mansion. He parked a block away so as not to be seen by anyone who might be watching the mansion. Simon handed me a coms unit and a tracking device. "Make sure you hide that well. We can't track you if you're not wearing it."

I nodded and placed the tracking device in my socks and the comms unit in my left ear. "Can you hear me?" Nick asked and I nodded, "Alright I think you're ready."

"I think I am." I opened the van door and looked out. No one was around so I hopped out and walked down the block. "I'm coming up to the warehouse, but I don't see any cars."

"Maybe she was dropped off." Nick answered.

"Maybe…I'm coming up to the door."

"Be careful."

"I will." I opened the door to the mansion. I was dark and the scent of dust was everywhere. I frowned as I stepped inside and searched for a light switch. "Stacy, I'm here. Where are you?"

"Over here." I heard her voice say.

I flicked the lights on and walked in the direction of Stacy's voice. The mansion was dusty, as I had first sniffed. I paused for a moment. The room spun around and I crashed into a small table. Luckily there was no vase to be knocked over. In the back of my mind I could hear Marcus's voice, "Hello Miss Bishop." I clung to the small table.

"Kat are you alright?" Nick asked, "I heard a noise."

I touched my coms unit, "Yeah I'm fine, just got a bit dizzy."

"Be careful, Kat."

"Yeah, I got it." I said and then continued to walk down the hall. "Stacy?"

"Over here, in the last room." She said.

I followed to the end of the hall, to the last door and well I stared at the door for a few moments. A chilling breeze blew from behind me and I was sure the windows weren't open. I frowned and took a deep breath. "I'm going in." I whispered to Nick, who was listening on coms.

I pushed the door open. There wasn't much to see, the room was completely dark and the only light was the door behind me. Only it didn't remain open for long. It quickly snapped shut and I jerked back. Strong hands held me in place. "Hey what is this?!"

The light flashed on; blinding me for a few seconds. Across from me; sitting on a couch was Stacy. She frowned and squirmed around. She was actually tied up, and to think I thought she was just using a simple phrase. Taccone stood behind her; with an insufferable smirk. He clearly enjoyed making everyone's life miserable. To my side were a fat, pudgy man and Alejandro. The horrible bald man I had met at Silver's home. Alejandro smirked at me and led me to the couch. I was forced to sit and was guarded on both sides.

"Hush, you brat." Alejandro told Stacy, "Can't you see we have a guest."

Stacy stopped moving, "Bit me, you Ass Wipe." She frowned then looked over at me, "I'm sorry Bishop, but you really can't say no when you have a gun to your head."

I nodded, I knew exactly what she meant, "Taccone, what do you want?"

"I need you to do a small tiny little job for me."

"No job is little when it concerns you, Taccone."

He smirked, "Well I'm a very extravagant man, Katarina."

"Tell me then, why should I listen to you?"

"Because, I have your precious Hale." He motioned with his hand. Two men appeared from the shadows; dragging a limp figure between them. They forced the boy they were dragging to kneel before Taccone. The boy was in a tattered and dirty shirt. Patches of blood stained his white shirt. His hair was in clumps; bruises painted his skin. His face was lowered; staring at the ground. Taccone motioned to the goon to lift the boy's head. The man did as told and pulled the boy by the hair. Agony twisted the boy's face and my heart sank.

"Hale…" I whispered; then I frowned and stood up, "Hale!" Alejandro forced me back down and refused to let me get back up. Hale didn't respond to my voice; he couldn't speak either...he had been gagged. Only a tear ran down his face. I heard Stacy gasp when she saw Hale.

"You piece of shit, where's my sister?!" Stacy demanded.

Taccone ignored her and stepped closer to Hale. He grabbed Hale by the jaw and smirked. He turned Hale's face as if admiring his work. Hale glared back, but that only made Taccone smile. "He's a tough one." Taccone said as he turned to face me, "Much like that girl, but that doesn't matter now. What matters now is that I have your full cooperation."

"Let me go, so I can slit your throat you son of a bitch!" Stacy squirmed.

Taccone frowned, "Shut this girl up." One of the goons that had been guarding Hale walked over to Stacy. She frowned at him and tried to kick him away. He moved behind her instead and gagged her with a piece of cloth. She squirmed to avoid being gagged but it didn't work. She cursed a few muffled words.

"Well that's somewhat better." Taccone said, "So where were we? Ah yes, Katarina I need you and this… foul mouthed girl to steal the _real_ Mona Lisa for me."

"We need more people for a job like that." I said, "We can't do this alone."

"You have three days to consider my offer." He snapped his fingers and Hale was dragged away. I frowned as I watched Hale being taken away from me again. "You have three days," Taccone said, "Before your precious Hale and the girl die."

I tensed, "How will I contact you?"

He tossed a card on the coffee table, "You can call that number." He turned and motioned for his goons to follow. "Three day Katarina." He left the room. I sank into my seat for a moment and considered it all.

"Kat?" I heard Simon say through the coms.

I sat up and snapped out of my thoughts, "Yeah, are they all gone?"

"They're all gone. Nick and Gabs are heading inside now."

"Alright, we're in the back room." I got up and walked over to Stacy. I removed the gag and she smiled at me.

"Thanks Bishop." Stacy said.

"No problem," I smiled back, "Hey Stacy did you really have the jewels?"

"Yeah and I turned them in to my father." She looked at me as I untied her feet. "I was heading back to you guy when I was kidnapped by Alejandro. I think he's hoping that Sapphire and I get killed."

I looked up at her, "But he works for your father."

"Yeah he doesn't really like us, but the feeling is mutual."

I stood up to untie her hands, which were behind her back, when suddenly I was tackled. I looked up at my assailant, it was Gabs. "Oh Kitty Kat you're okay!"

"Gabs…" I gasped, "You're squishing…me."

Gabrielle frowned but she got off of me and helped me up off the floor. I walked over to Stacy and untied her hands. "Guys, we have to save Hale before the three days are up."

"It's not gonna be easy." Stacy looked at me as she rubbed her wrists. "Taccone will probably have the place packed with guards."

"It's worth the risk." Gabrielle said, "We're going to save Hale and Sapphire."


	20. Chapter 17

**AN: Alright here it is! I think this time I was much faster in writing it. I didn't edit this since i was so anxious to get it up (also its a bit on the short side) But ITS HERE! so enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: Heist Society belongs to Ally Carter; everything else belongs to ME!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 17 Kat POV<strong>

I know what it's like to feel the world is falling apart. I know what it feels like to have the ones you love taken from you. I know what it's like to feel lost and afraid. I know so much about life that I wish I never had experienced any of this. There are times were I imagine my world to be normal. I could give anything to have that again. Many times I wonder what keeps me from leaving my life as a thief and re-stealing a normal life. I wish this wasn't real, my life, losing Alex and Hale being in captivity. I might have not gotten the chance to meet Nick. Perhaps Taccone would have never bothered me or my family and Silver wouldn't have threatened to kill me. At least he was off my back now that I had given him what he wanted. Only, I still had one thing to go. I needed to save Hale and Sapphire before Taccone killed them.

It was the next morning and I hadn't really slept. Getting Hale back was the only thing that I could think of. Every time I'd close my eyes, I'd see the tortured image of Hale. The single tear that ran down the side of his face and the hope in his eyes, that's what I saw. At times my mind would wander or I would sleep and see Hale slowly die in my arms. All I wanted to do was save him, hold him close and never let go. I couldn't sleep with that kind of thoughts running through my mind. I fear I might lose him. I fear my nightmares might come true.

I hid under the covers most of the night. I didn't want to talk to anyone and I didn't want Stacy to notice I was awake. If she would have discovered that I was awake she might have hit me with a tranquilizer or feed it to me. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't think about it twice and knock me out. Either way I didn't want to sleep; not with the nightmares I was getting. I wondered though, as I hide under the covers, if Stacy ever tried to use tranquillizers to get herself to sleep. Or maybe she didn't and preferred not to sleep to avoid dreaming. I think that I might have done the same. I'd rather stay awake than dreaming of Hale being tortured.

It took the crew till about nine in the morning to wake up. I don't doubt that they all had trouble sleeping too. Gabrielle looked groggy. Nick looked like he had slept on a hard floor. Simon went straight to his laptops and buried his nose in whatever it is he does when he's not working on the heist. Hamish and Angus were eating the last of the food that was in the fridge. Stacy…she was nowhere to be seen. Well at least she wasn't in my sight.

The warehouse was quiet that morning. Despite what happened the previous night, the place was chilly. I wasn't sure if it was just because it was the warehouse or if it was because we only had three days to save Hale and Sapphire. The mansion was much more comforting than this warehouse. I missed the chatter from the crew that filled the room with life and the occasional explosions that came from Hamish and Angus detonating bombs.

I just watched them all from the bed…Alex's bed. No one seemed to notice me, sitting being the computers; hugging my knees. Gabrielle had moved from her bed to sit next to Simon. She leaned on his as she watched him work. Nick was standing near Marcus, who was doing much better. All we were really hoping for was for Marcus to wake up from his coma. The others kept doing the same things they had done since early in the morning.

"You're awake."

I jumped, "Oh, Stacy." I looked at her. "You scared me."

"You didn't sleep." She frowned at me.

"Yes I did." I lied.

"No you didn't." Stacy poked my cheek, "You look tired."

I frowned and pushed her hand away, "Neither did you."

"If you haven't noticed, Bishop, I don't sleep much." She folded her arms and frowned. There was something there, in her eyes, which suggested I shouldn't ask her why. For a moment I saw the pain she was feeling. A faint flicker of fear and anguish; that she was so good at masking with rage and indifference. So I didn't ask her why.

Instead I told her, "Well you need your sleep too…everyone does."

"That might be so but I don't need it." She motioned me to follow her, so I got out of bed and walked with her to the living room. Or at least what passed as a living room in that warehouse. As I stepped into the light of the living room time slowed down. I saw Simon and Gabs look up from the computer. Nick looked at me with a frown and Hamish and Angus stopped eating. All the attention was on me and Stacy. I never felt so self conscious in front of my crew before. Time never slows down when something good happens. It's always when something bad occurs or when fear takes over. In that moment it was fear that had me frozen in place.

"Are we going to fight or are we just going to stand here like helpless babies and cry?" Stacy asked as she leaned against the couch.

"Fight?" Gabrielle asked. "We don't fight."

"We do however, steal." Nick added very matter-of-factly.

Stacy rolled her eyes, "Well then I'll fight and you little kids can steal."

"We aren't kids." Gabs pointed out.

"We you are to me."

Gabs frowned at Stacy and got up from her spot next to Simon. She stepped forward; ready to fight if she had too. Stacy glared back and stood her ground. It was clear she wasn't going to back down that easily. Especially after going up against Nick, everyone was sure that Stacy wouldn't back down when it came to an argument. We had lost Alex because of an argument. I wasn't ready to lose another member of my crew.

"Stacy…" I said.

She ignored me, "Sit down Powder Puff, this isn't the right time to fight."

"Oh it's the perfect time to fight." Gabrielle said as she took yet another step closer to Stacy.

"I said, Sit down." Stacy frowned, "Powder Puff."

"Make me."

"I'll be my pleasure." Stacy stepped forward but Nick stepped in her path.

"Stacy, back off." Nick glared at her.

"Oh, what you want me to make you sit too?" She frowned, "You Interpol Brat."

"No, but I'm sure you're willing to stab me just like you did to Alex. If you want, I won't move." He stepped closer, "Kill me."

"I won't regret your death." Stacy pulled out her knife, but Nick stood his ground. They stared at each other and neither of them flinched. I knew I had to do something.

"Nick…Stacy? Please, we have to work together. We need to get Sapphire back. Hale and Sapphire depend on us to free them from Taccone."

Stacy frowned but put her knife away, "Fine but if the Interpol Brat crosses me again I will kill him and I won't regret it."

I looked at Nick; waiting for him to back down. He looked skeptical at first as if he didn't trust me enough to let his guard down, but he nodded and stepped back. Gabrielle had sat back down at one point and was crying again. Simon tried to comfort her best he could but it didn't really look like it was working.

"We need to make a plant to save Hale and Sapphire." I said.

"Well we can't just barge in there and take them back." Nick said.

"Of course not; you people can't fight." Stacy said.

"We could explode our way in." Angus added.

"Then what?" Stacy asked, "You going to fight the multitude of guard he sends in after you explode one of the walls? What if you hit a room where Hale and Sapph are? They could get hurt. I mean I like explosives but I'm not willing to risk my sister's life by detonating C4 blindly."

"They won't hurt anyone." Hamish answered.

"We would never let harm come to Sapphire or Hale." Angus added and Hamish nodded in agreement.

"We need to know where they are first before we do any kind of rescuing." Stacy frowned and paced the living room. "So we need a plan."

"But rescues aren't easy." Simon said as he shut his laptop.

"Neither are kidnappings, but they're possible."

"Kidnappings?"

"Yeah. Think of it like this." Stacy leaned against the post with the embedded knife, "We're going to steal Sapph and Hale back."

"They're…they're not objects." Gabrielle sniffled.

"No fucking duh." Stacy scoffed, "But this is what we all are _good_ at."

"That's…actually a good idea." I said, suddenly everyone was staring at me again. I wasn't completely sure if those stares were supposed to reassuring or judgmental. "Look, we're thieves and we've stolen almost everything and even done some pretty difficult jobs. I know we can pull this off."

"We've never stolen a person." Gabs frowned at me, "How are we going to pull that off?"

"Stacy can help us. She's done jobs like these." I looked at my crew. I stood talk, confident, "We stole from the Henley. We _can_ do this." The crew looked at me as if expecting me to give a righteous speech. I didn't have one and I wasn't sure if they had just called my bluff of confidence. I didn't have more to say and I was sure I had made my point. I knew this crew, my family, could do this. We have been through so much together; anything was possible with them at my side. Sure stealing a person wasn't something I knew how to do but I knew how to steal and I was going to steal my Hale back; no matter what.

"I believe in Miss Bishop."

I looked up in disbelief, "Marcus?" My heart skipped a beat and hope filled its place. Marcus sat up in his bed and smiled at us.

"Marcus!" Gabrielle yelled as she ran over to hug him. Everyone rushed to his side, Stacy remained at the post. She watched us all from afar.

He smiled and let Gabs squeeze him in a hug, "I know you can all bring Master Hale back."

"Are you alright?" Nick asked.

"Tired, but I will be better soon enough."

"C'mon, kids give him a bit of space." Stacy called out from her post. We all turned to look at her. "He doesn't need to be grilled with questions." She moved and walked over to Marcus. She pushed Nick aside and checked Marcus over. "Hmn, well he's much better but he'll need to rest. So everyone back off; let him rest."

Stacy moves past nick again and he sneered, but before any argument could arise I said, "So what is the plan?"

Stacy smiled, "Kiddies, I have a plan but first you all need to find where Taccone is for this to work."

"No," Gabs frowned, "no more of your stupid plans."

I pulled my cousins aside, "Gabs, she knows what she's doing."

"Are you really going to take her side again?"

"I'm not taking sides. She just has more experience in kidnapping that any of us do."

"And you're just going to trust her?" Gabs frowned at me.

"Gabs I know you're upset but…"

"Upset? Of course I'm upset. Kat she killed Alex." A tear ran down her face, "She killed one of her own friends."

"It was an accident, he…he was protecting Nick and me."

"See there you go taking her side again."

"No I'm not. We need her help to get Hale back and to get Taccone off our backs."

Gabrielle crossed her arms, "Fine but if you get stabbed? Don't come to me for help." She walked away straight back to Marcus. My heart sank. My cousin had just…rejected helping me. They all were and for the first time I saw what this job was really doing to my family.

It was breaking us apart.

"I told you not to hang out with me, Bishop."

I looked at Stacy, "What are you talking about?"

"You've noticed haven't you?" She stood beside me, "You're crew is turning against you. They're losing faith in you and they don't question your loyalties. You can't let that happen. You got to convince them otherwise."

I looked down at my feet, "They don't think that…" I looked up once more and saw that Stacy had left my side. I sat on the couch instead and watched my crew smile and laugh for the first time in days. Perhaps she was right; my crew was turning against me. Maybe I was wrong. The crew isn't breaking part but rather they're breaking away from me.

Me.

I knew I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't let Taccone win and I won't let Silver win either. I was going to win this war and not just the battles.

"Kitty Kat?" Gabrielle walked up to me, which frankly scared me. I didn't see her coming towards me, nor did I notice her sit beside me. "You alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine, just thinking of a plan B."

"Plan B? But we don't even have a plan A yet." She looked at me.

"It doesn't hurt to have more than one plan.

She smiled at me, "there she is."

"Who?" I asked.

"The old Kitty Kat, my cousin." Gabs tapped my nose and I frowned, "Where has she been?"

"Lost but I think she'd found her way back home." I looked at my cousin, "We _can_ do this, you know."

She nodded, "Yes we can, so Kitty Kat. What's plan B?"

I took a deep breath, "I turn myself in."

"What? No, you're not doing that."

"She's right, you're not gonna do something that stupid." Stacy walked over to the couch.

"If I fail…"

"You won't."

"But if I do, Taccone won't want anything less than me."

"Then we can't fail." Stacy said and gabs nodded in agreement. It was probably the only time they'd ever agreed on anything. "I have a better plan."

"What is it?"

"We make him think he's getting what he wants. Then use a few extra people as distraction."

"And where are we going to get more crew members on such short notice?" Gabs asked.

"I called my sister's crew."

"You're sister's crew?"

"Not you're crew?"

"I don't have a crew."

"But you work with them?"

Stacy rolled her eyes, "They're my sister's friends. I don't have a crew or friends happy?" She frowned. Gabrielle didn't say anything and neither did I. To be honest I wasn't expecting her to tell us she was friendless. "They can fight and they're good. We can have them as back up of need be."

I nodded, "We'll steal Hale and Sapphire, but we need to Divide and Conquer."

Stacy smirked, "I like that… Divide and Conquer it is."

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><p><strong>AN: Love? Hate? Please review. It makes me happy when I get reviews. It also reminds me to keep going! <strong>

**Side note: Finals and winter break is coming up so I might be delayed, but this time I will actually try to get writing time in, promise.**


	21. Chapter 18

**AN: Here it is! I think this time I was able to update in a month's time, which is pretty awesome. I edited this once so if there are mistakes sorry! I wanted to post this on the 25th (As a gift to the readers) but I was pretty sick and couldn't finish. But ITS HERE! One in the morning on the 26th but none-the-less here! So enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: Heist Society belongs to Ally Carter; everything else belongs to ME!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 18 Kat POV<strong>

The night was cold and a light frost covered the ground. The chilling air nipped my cheeks, but it didn't bother me all that much. For once I didn't feel like all my work would be hopeless. I could feel it in my heart that I would soon hold Hale in my arms. I would get to tell him how much I love him. How much I needed him and how much I missed him. I never in a million year want to lose him again. I don't know if I could handle the same situation once more. I found comfort on the roof; much like Stacy I found peace. I wasn't quite sure what it was that made me feel so at ease. I knew it wasn't the sky. Every time I looked at it all I could see was darkness; an empty abyss that held no hope. Stacy claims that the stars always made her feel better but not me. I felt no comfort in the stars. I suppose I felt comfort in being able to see everything below me as if I was some sort of ruler. I could just wave my hand and have everything that I wanted fixed, changed; perfect. I could have my Hale back and no of this would happen. It felt nice to be able to feel in control of my life for once. And I would have that control; nothing was going to stop me.

I wasn't alone on the roof. Stacy was here with me but she never said much of anything. She always seemed to be lost in her head, dealing with everything that happened. I constantly wondered what goes on in Stacy's head. Does she worry like I do or does she think of different ways to kill Taccone? Honestly I don't think I've figured her out yet. She doesn't smile and is always angry. She's sort of a short fuse…quick to burn. The more I wanted to understand Stacy, the more I was pushed away and the more my crew resented me for it. It's not like I was watching a movie and seeing what others saw or heard what others thought. That's that hard part about life. You never really ever know what others really think or how they truly feel. Moments like those only came once in a life time. Not everyone shares what the feel or what they think.

The wind brushed against my cheek and I could feel the burn. I hadn't noticed I was shivering or that I was clinging to my knees. My hands were cold and my finger nails had turned a purplish blue. I must have been outside for a good solid hour in the cold night. I didn't even know the time but I didn't care. I wasn't planning to sleep tonight. I rubbed by hands together to warm them up but the night was too cold for that to work.

"Here." Stacy passed me some black gloves.

"Thanks." I slipped the gloves one and looked at her. "Aren't you cold?"

"Not really but the cold does remind me of Sapph."

"It does?" I asked, "Why?"

"The cold…well winter it's her favorite time of year. The snow, the cold temperatures and all the cheer is kind of her favorite thing of winter."

"But it's the fall."

"Yeah but it still really cold tonight out tonight." Stacy sighed, "Sapphire never really liked the heat anyways."

"Hu?"

"Sapph is like the snow, cold. I'm her opposite, fire." She looked at her hand, "Oh never mind I'm probably not making any sense."

"No, not really."

"Right, maybe you should go and see how Simon is doing." She looked at me, "Maybe he found something."

I nodded, "Yeah you're right. He might have found something already." I stood up and walked to the roof door. I could feel the cold air more as I moved towards the door. It brushed against my skin causing me to shiver. I opened the door and warmth wrapped around me in a hug; very much like the ones Hale would give me. I sighed, put the thought aside and stepped inside. I walked down the steps; down into the warehouse. Simon was sitting at the computer station that Stacy had let him borrow. Of course, Simon wouldn't have needed to borrow all the computers if we weren't rushed into coming to the warehouse. I walked over to Simon, who was frowning as he stared at the computer screen.

"Hey, Simon, how's it going?" I asked him.

"Hmn, not too well." He looked at me, "Taccone has really covered his tracks this time. He really doesn't want you to find them."

"No I guess he wouldn't."

"We'll find him Kat." Simon smiled, "There's nothing we haven't been able to do."

"But what if we don't find them in time?"

"Don't think like that. We will."

"Simon is right, Kitty Kat we will find them." Gabrielle told me as she walked over with two glasses of water. She handed one to Simon while she sipped from the other. I nodded and sat with them. I watched Simon work on surveillance feed in the area near Hale's home. It was all conveniently down when Taccone was in that area. Only one camera caught a glimpse of Taccone and that baldheaded bully Alejandro. They were walking into a small Café. From what we were able to see they were meeting someone there but I couldn't tell who it was. I was pretty sure that there was no one else that they would console with but I could be mistaken. They spent only a few minutes in the café and returned to the car. They drove off into the down town area. Now all Simon had to do was check the city camera feed and we might have a location….hopefully.

"Stay on the line" I heard Stacy say. I looked up behind me and saw Stacy rush down the steps. She had her cell phone in her hand and held it out. "No, don't hang up. I can trace this."

"Stacy what's going on?" I asked.

"Simon, my sister is on the line. Trace the call." She handed Simon her phone. "Sapph don't hang up, Simon is tracing the call."

"Hurry." A whisper if barely words at all came out of the phone. Simon quickly set to work on tracing the call. His fingers moved swiftly across the keyboard as he worked. Stacy frowned and crossed her arms as she waited. There was only a faint hum coming from the other end of the phone line. It buzzed as time passed only endangering Sapphire more.

"Just a bit more and I've got it." Simon looked at Stacy and smiled. Suddenly there was a scream.

"No!" Stacy yelled, "Sapphire!" The phone had gone silent again, the buzz filling where the scream had once been. I looked at Stacy, she had no expression. I couldn't tell but I was pretty sure she might snap at any moment.

"St…Stacy?" A faint shaky voice said. The phone was still on; Sapphire was still on the line. "Ah! Stacy… No, no please don't. Alejandro no. Please!"

"Trace the call!" Stacy yelled at Simon but the line had died and all that was left was the dial tone.

Simon looked at her, "I have and I know where they're at."

"Where? Where are they?!"

"Stacy you need to calm down." I said.

"Calm down?" She scoffed, "You must be demented, Bishop. My sister just called and got caught. Who knows what that ass of Alejandro will do to my sister?" She pushed Simon aside and looked at the computer screen. "She's not that far from here. C'mon before they move."

"You mean we go now?" Gabrielle asked, "What about our plan?"

"They're probably moving to get my sister and Hale out of that place." She pointed to the computer screen. "So we have to move to intercept them or follow them to their next location. So everyone up; we go now."

No one moved.

"Stacy this is risky, we aren't fighters." I said.

"Bull shit, I'm going." She walked to the black car nearest the warehouse car entrance. She got in and drove off.

"Do you think that was a good idea?' Nick asked, "Letting her go off like that?"

"No," I shook my head, "No it wasn't but I wasn't going against her." I sighed, "She's dangerous." I hated to admit it but it was true. She was dangerous when she was upset and I won't risk another death to my crew because of her temper.

"We should follow her. She could get hurt and we can't afford to lose anymore crew members."

I nodded, "The van is still outside." I looked at Simon, "You have the location right?"

He nodded and stood, "We should hurry before we get too far behind."

"Right." I grabbed the knife Stacy had lent me and the crystal necklace she had left behind. I rushed out to the van outside the warehouse with the others. Nick drove, Simon was up front giving directions. I got smushed between the Hamish brothers again. Gabs was sitting on the floor, but it didn't really matter where we were sitting. At the moment it just mattered that we arrived before Hale was gone and before Stacy made any stupid mistakes.

Stacy had been right; the place where the signal of Sapphire's phone came from wasn't too far. Five minute drive at the most. Nick made sure to park a block away. The only problem was we didn't see Stacy or her car. The lights in the warehouse, where the signal came from, were all on. There was no sign that Hale and Sapphire would ever be moved from their location.

"You don't think it's a trap do you?" Hamish asked.

"Why would they go through such a big deal just for a trap?" Angus asked his brother.

"I don't know. I'm not a crazy bald man."

"You've got to admit though, it's kind of suspicious." Gabrielle looked at me, "There's no movement and they should have done something by now."

I nodded, "Simon you find anything on the security camera feeds?"

"Yeah, Alejandro is in there."

My heart skipped a beat and butterflies fluttered in my stomach, "So they must still be in there."

"I think so, but he doesn't look happy."

"When is he ever happy?" Gabrielle asked as she brushed out her hair. I looked at the warehouse building. I was so close but yet I didn't know where to begin. Hale could be in a closet or in the biggest room. I didn't know but I wanted to run in there and grab Hale and run out with him. The building had to have a substantial amount of guards. Alejandro was working with Taccone and he knew Stacy well enough to know her skill set. He would up the security if he knew he was up against Stacy.

"We're going in." I said. I had made up my mind. I would go in there. I'd be winging it but this was our only chance before the days were up. We only had one day left I wasn't going to waste it.

"What?" Gabs frowned at me, "We don't know what we're up against."

"Simon, what are we up against?"

There was a long pause with the sound of the computer keys clicking, "Three guards outside the back door, one up front. Camera's in almost every corner. There aren't any useful blind spots."

"What about inside?"

"Five guards in the main room, playing cards. Alejandro is on the phone…and there are two guards near a door. That must be where they have Hale and Sapphire."

"And how exactly are we going to go up against twelve trained guards?"

I smiled, "Like we always do, a distraction." I looked at my cousin and she frowned at me.

"Oh no, no Kitty Kat this is not the same as museum security guards."

"No but you can get them all to follow you, at least half of them." I looked at Hamish, "How fast can you make a smoke bomb?"

"If we have all the supplies? Two minutes, but if we don't…maybe ten."

"Could you make a few?"

"Anything for you Kitty Kat." Hamish smiles and jumped over the seat to the back of the van. Angus followed behind and they set to work.

"What are you planning Kitty Kat?" Gabrielle asked me.

I glanced at the warehouse and remembered our original plan, "Divide and Conquer; that's exactly what we're going to do."

The next few minutes we spent preparing for the heist. Hamish and Angus made a few smoke bombs, a flash bomb and other small bombs that we could attach to the cars or the walls of the warehouse. They worked fast with the supplies we had in the van. I was glad I had them in my crew. Hopefully we wouldn't need the explosives to destroy the warehouse. Gabs slipped on her running shoes and put her hair up. Simon worked on the security feed so we wouldn't be traced or noticed. Nick would pick Gabs up after she ran a long distance. We were ready. I could feel it. I would finally get Hale back; we'd be together again.

I looked at my crew, my family and smiled. They were all determined; ready to start. I slipped in my coms unit as did the others. "Is everyone ready?"

"Ready, Kitty Kat." Gabrielle smiled. My cousin opened the door and hopped out then ran out across the street and in front of the warehouse, where the guard could see her. She jumped and waved her hands, teasing the guard. He yelled back at her and she kept teasing him. It was funny to see the guard so flustered. He eventually called a few others to help him chase after Gabs. That was our cue to approach. We used the front door since it was unguarded and not a place they would expect to be used. Hamish was with me while Angus went out to the back to throw a distraction bomb on the guards.

Hamish and I approached the door and waited for our cue. If Simon had done his job, we'd be safe from the cameras. We waited a minute or so when a loud explosion disrupted the silent night. "I think that's our cue." I told Hamish.

He shook his head, "Wait." Suddenly there was yelling outside in the back area of the warehouse. "Now we go in." Hamish stepped inside first. He threw a flash bomb and ran back outside; just in time to avoid the bright light. He nodded and we charged in. Alejandro was dazed and clinging to the table. The ground around the table had cards scattered and a few dollar bills. The two guards by the door had passed out, which was just sheer luck.

"What did you put in that flash bomb?" I asked as I set to work on the door's lock.

"Oh a little bit of tranquillizer, but Alejandro was too far from the center."

"He looks ready to pass out to me." I fiddled with the pins, moving each one and listening to the faint clicks. When the tension was perfect I twisted the knob and it opened. I smiled and stood up. I took a deep breath and stepped inside. The room was dark, smelled musty. No something like what spoiled bread might smeeled. That seemed the best way to describe the room. I almost lost my lunch, a sandwich that Marcus had insisted on preparing. That wasn't the worst of what I saw. In the corner was Sapphire curled up, shivering and bloody.

Hale wasn't there.

I rushed over to Sapphire. She looked much worse up close. Her eye was swollen and purple. Her lip was busted and little pieces of hair clung to her face. There were open cuts all over her arms and torso, which were still bleeding. I flinched, there was so much blood. Hamish helped Sapphire sit.

"Where's Hale?" He asked.

She shivered, "They…they took him. Wh…where is Stacy?"

"We don't know she came to look for you. She should have been here before us."

"Let's get her out of here." I said, "We can ask her questions later."

"N…no, you need to hack the computers in the other room." Sapphire shivered. "There's information there you can use."

"We don't have time for that. We got to go."

"No but you have too. T…take me I'll do it."

"Sapphire you're injured."

"Please." She looked at me. Her eyes said only one thing. She needed to hack those computers.

I sighed and helped her stand, "Alright but we can't take long."

"I won't…I promise." Sapphire leaned on me and on Hamish as we lead her out. Sapphire stumbled along as we walked to the computers near the table where Alejandro had passed out. We helped her sit at the computers; she reached out for the key board. Her hands were shaking. One of her fingers had a make shift splint and the other hand was wrapped in a piece of cloth. As I got a better look at Sapphire I noticed her clothes had been ripped and she wasn't wearing any shoes. Her skin was splotchy and pale and her eyes red. None of that was bothering Sapphire. Her fingers moved swiftly across the key board and a slight frown crossed her face. She reminded me of Stacy with a bit of Simon. It was a strange combination but Sapphire managed to pull that look off quite well. She got everything within a matter of minutes.

She pulled her hands into her chest and took a deep breath, "I've got it all. Sent it to a private untraceable place and left no trace of ever hacking the system."

"That was fast." Hamish said as he helped Sapphire up from the chair.

Sapphire stood tall and gave me a weak smile, "Yeah, let's go."

Hamish and I helped Sapphire back to the van. Gabs opened the door for us and helped Sapphire inside the van. I glanced back at the warehouse. I was once again fooled into believing Hale was going to be there when I arrived. First we saved Nick and now we saved Sapphire, but at least this time I knew we were closer. If my hunch was correct, Stacy would have followed Hale to the next location. From there we would find him and Sapphire would help. I was sure of it.

When we arrived at the warehouse, Stacy was there. She was at the computers working. "Where were you guys?"

"Stacy?" Sapphire asked.

Stacy looked up from the computers and looked at her sister. There was a silent moment between them as we all walked inside the warehouse. "Sapph, you're here!" Stacy quickly got up from her chair and ran towards us. She snatched Sapphire from between Hamish and I then hugged her.

"St…Stacy, you're hurting me."

Stacy quickly let go and lead her to the couch, "I'm so sorry. Where's Hale?"

"Taccone took him." She looked at Stacy, "Why weren't you there with Kat and her crew?"

"I saw Taccone drive off with a few henchmen so I followed but I lost them. I managed to place a tracer on the van so I came back here to check for it. I thought you were in the van."

"No Taccone split us up to make it harder on the both of you." She coughed into her hand. Blood splattered her pale hand. I stepped back at the sight of more blood. Stacy just frowned and got up. She came back with the emergency kit and worked on cleaning up her sister. Sapphire didn't protest and didn't seem all that bothered. "Simon, check your computer. I sent something to you." He didn't question it, but I was sure he had to be wondering how she managed to do that without him noticing.

I watched as Stacy cleaned up her sister. They had stopped talking but there still appeared to be a silent conversation happening between them. It was usual unlike anything I've ever seen. My guess was that this might have happened to them before or at least they were familiar with situations like this. I don't think I could ever be this…calm if it was me and Hale. I would be drilling him for questions, tending to his injuries, and staying really close to him. I wouldn't want let him go. I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to let this silent conversation continue but I thought they needed time alone. It was only fair, right?

I sat next to Simon and watched him work on his computer. I was and could always be amazed on how swiftly he could work on the computer. He had found the file that Sapphire had sent him. There was so much information I didn't know what we would need. I just watched Simon look through all the information that Sapphire had sent. There were plans that Alejandro had concocted to get rid of Sapphire and Stacy. There were blueprints of Hale's home and of the museum where the jewel heist took place. There were even blueprints of Silver's home; those blue prints where pages long. I was surprised at how many rooms and levels it contained. There were two basements, a main floor, and a second floor which was a total of four floors.

Another file contained information that had been gathered on me and the crew. What we ate, what jobs we had done, and even pictures. There were a lot of pictures of private moments that one would never think would even be seen by…anyone. I shivered wondering how they were able to get so many pictures of private moments like those. We were all really happy in those pictures; oblivious of who was spying on us.

The last file that Simon had opened were plans and orders on what Taccone wanted his goons to do with Hale and Sapphire. It was clear that Taccone wanted to have a bit of fun and make my life miserable. He ordered Hale and Sapphire tortured for useless information. In the notes that had been passed on to Taccone there were no signs of anyone speaking. The note had stated that Sapphire was especially hard to get talking. Hale wouldn't speak either but by the sound of the notes, it wasn't going to be long before they "broke" Hale. What that meant I wasn't all too sure. In the last note it stated that Hale had broken and was going to be transferred to a safer location…Taccone's home. I finally knew where he was but the last time I checked, Taccone's home wasn't easy to break into.

I tapped my fingers along my thigh while I bit the finger nails on my other hand. It seemed so surreal to have such vital information, but things were never easy in the life of a thief. It comes as part of the job… making life hard. Maybe for once there could be an easy answer. After all, we had already gone through so much in the last few days. I needed some kind of break. We all needed a break.

I got up from where I was sitting and headed to the roof. I paused in front of Alex's bed and stared at it. He was gone, Hale was gone and I couldn't say if I was scared or relieved this was soon to be over. "Kat?" I heard a shaky voice call out my name. I turned and saw Sapphire and Stacy standing behind me. I hadn't heard them walk up behind me. I kept forgetting how silent these girls' footsteps were.

"What is it?" I asked.

Stacy helped Sapphire sit on Alex's bed. "Can we talk?"

I nodded, "Sure."

"Kat, I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry." Sapphire said.

"What for?"

"I couldn't stop them from taking Hale away. I knew I had to keep him close or else he'd fall apart. Kat, he really misses you."

"He…You tried; that's all that matters." I nodded and held myself together, "Simon found where Hale is and he's with Taccone."

"Good, now we know where to start." Sapphire shivered and Stacy covered her with a blanket.

"C'mon Sapph, you need to rest. We can't go stealing people with an ill crew member." Stacy said.

Sapphire smiled, "Okay, I'll sleep but we start work again in the morning. Hale should be safe till then." She had lay down on the bed and curled up to sleep.

Stacy pulled me aside, "Hey you do know Taccone will be upset with what you did right? He's going to contact you and threaten you. He's going to play with your head. Whatever he says, don't let it get to you no matter how horrible it is."

I looked at Stacy, "Will it get that bad?"

"Honestly I don't know but it's better to be prepared for the worst; better safe than sorry."

I nodded, "Thanks for the advice."

"Go rest. You need it after a crazy night."

"Sapphire kind of took my bed." I smiled.

"There's a bed over there." She pointed to the far back wall by the stairs that went up to the roof. "That's my bed, you can sleep there."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to be taking care of Sapph, so I won't need it. Go on; go sleep."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, thanks." I smiled, "I'll go sleep as soon as I talk to Simon."

"But don't stay up too late." She frowned at me and at that moment she sounded much like and older sibling. I didn't sleep in the bed Stacy had offered me. Instead I checked up on Simon. He was still at work; trying to figure out what we could use against Taccone. There wasn't much to use but I was sure he could find something. Simon had always been good at finding even the smallest window of opportunity. If I had any chance of getting to Hale I was going to take that chance. I wasn't going to back down now; not after everything. I took Stacy's advice and tried to be strong. I couldn't afford to let any of this bother me. I had to be strong, there was no second option. If I coward away I could lose my boyfriend, my best friend; an important member of this crew. I couldn't allow that. I was going to find Hale even if it killed me.

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><p><strong>AN: Love? Hate? Please review. It makes me happy when I get reviews. It also reminds me to keep going!<strong>

**Side note: It's coming to an end soon, this story, not exactly sure how many chapters I'm going write before it ends but I think it'll be ending soon. We'll see...**


	22. Chapter 19

**AN: Here it is! I cut this chapter so it was shorter and i was exited to post it so it was less to type. I'm thinking there will be two more chapters or three left before the end...**

**So enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: Heist Society belongs to Ally Carter; everything else belongs to ME!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Nineteen<strong>

**Kat POV**

The next morning was tolerable even after a night full of nightmares. Once again I dreamed of Hale. I watched him die in my arms or when the dream changed, he'd simply disappear. In either situation I was always terrified. I shivered in the darkness of my dream, with Taccone's maniacal laughter in the back ground. Hale's blood covered body clouded my thoughts as I sat in bed and waited for the others to wake. The sunlight made its way through the warehouse windows and brought in a sense of hope. This was my last day to get Hale back and nothing would stand in my way. I was sure of it.

I hugged my blankets as a thought of the things that Hale and I would do once we were together again. We would have to take a long deserved vacation, free from stealing, danger and Taccone. Maybe I would leave the family business once again and take Hale with me. I wasn't sure what we would end up doing but I wasn't going to let Hale out of my sight ever again.

Never.

As the sunlight filled the warehouse the first person to awake was Sapphire. She smiled warmly at her sister who had fallen asleep at her bedside. Sapphire glanced back at me and smiled as if nothing had happened. She looked better, less beaten and pale than when she arrived. Her bruises were almost gone and her cuts had healed. She had the crystal necklace around her neck. It reminded me of the first encounter I had with her and her sister. I remembered how much that necklace was passed around when someone had gotten injured. It made me wonder if it really helped heal or if it was just for sentimental use.

Stacy stirred and awoke. She looked up at Sapphire and smiled. The sisters hugged it out for a while before Stacy decided to pull away and frown again. It was a rare sight to see. Stacy doesn't show emotions like that so readily. Stacy stared right at me for a good three seconds before asking her sister how she slept.

Marcus was the next to wake. He seemed so much better than before and I was happy to see him back to his normal self. He quickly set for the kitchen, well the tiny area that counts as a kitchen in this warehouse, and made breakfast with the food supplies that remained in the refrigerator. He cooked, what seemed to be, omelets, for everyone.

I glanced back at Stacy and Sapphire. I noticed Sapphire sniffling and pulling away from her sister. My heart sank, when I realized who they were talking about. It had to have been Alex. He was very close to Sapphire; from what I could tell, she cared a lot about him. Stacy only frowned at her twin and looked away. My guess she was feeling some sort of guilt for what she had done. I couldn't say I don't blame her. Anyone would have felt the same if they had accidently killed their friend. I know for certain that I would have. I would have gone crazy with the guilt. I even managed to blame myself for Hale getting captured. He saved my life by pushing me down the trash shoot and I couldn't even manage a simple rescue mission.

It took but a moment for them to realize that I had been staring at them. Sapphire immediately smiled at me even thought I could tell she had been crying, well trying not to cry. Stacy stood and walked off to the cars, where she managed to disappear from my view. Somehow she was always able to do that. Slip into the cars and just disappear as if she had some sort of super power. Come to think of it Stacy did that quite often, just vanish.

"Kat?"

"Hu? Oh, sorry Sapphire I was just thinking." I smiled at Sapphire who was still lying in bed. She smiled at me and motioned for me to walk over to her, so I did. I didn't want to make her walk all the way to me since, well; she was probably in no condition to walk anyways. She smiled at me, "Morning, sleepy head."

She sounded so cheerful it was a bit strange to hear. It was as if nothing had happened. As if she had never been captured or tortured. One would think something like this happens to her all the time…or maybe she lived in some sort of fantasy world. I don't think I really wanted to know what goes on in that bubbly head of hers.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked.

"Like a rock." She smiled, "Did you sleep well?"

"No…Not really." I looked at my hands.

Sapphire place a hand on mine, I could sense her smile as she said, "We'll get Hale back. He's a strong guy and he'll make it through this. We all will. I promise."

"Yeah I know but," I looked up at Sapphire who still smiled, "but how are you feeling?"

She blinked and for a split second she looked confused, "Me? Well… I'm okay. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?" She smiled once more.

I cringed at the sudden mental image of Stacy stabbing Alex. "Uh yeah… has Stacy told you everything that's happened while you were um gone?"

Her smile faltered, "Yes she did and I think we can all pull it off despite our unruly circumstances."

"You sound quite confident."

"I believe in your crew." She gave me a gentle smile, "See your crew is talented, young but talented. You, all of you, stole from the Henley. I'd call that skills; you, Kat, can do the impossible."

"You sound very optimistic, especially after everything that's happened."

"Optimism does wonders, when things look bleak." She smiled but it wasn't as forced as all her other smiles I had seen. At that moment I had realized that this was how Sapphire coped with life. She'd put on a smile and see the brighter side of things. It was as if I had seen who Sapphire really was for the first time. Much like Stacy had her bursts of rage when she felt any kind of emotion, Sapphire smiled the pain away.

I folded my hands on my lap and nodded, "I see."

"So don't worry Kat." She patted my shoulder; then said, "I'm hungry. Are you hungry? How about we see what Marcus is making." She got up out of bed like nothing. No limping, no wincing and no visible pain. I got up to help her but she put her hand out; a clear sign that she didn't need help. Sapphire shuffled to the table and smiled as Marcus set an omelet in front of her. I followed and sat beside her.

As I sat down, Marcus placed my plate on the table and smiled. "Good morning, Miss Bishop."

I smiled, "Good morning Marcus" he nodded and continued to cook breakfast for the others. As I ate my omelet I thought of what Taccone might have planned for me. He had taken Hale and asked me to steal a painting that was nearly impossible to steal. Everyone knew that the real Mona Lisa was sitting in the vault of the Louvre which was heavily guarded. Taccone wanted me to fail so that I would get caught or at least to give him a chance to remove Hale from my life. I thought about what Taccone's true intentions were.

If anything I'd go insane wondering what would happen. I shivered at the thought of losing Hale if I failed. I shivered at the thought of being without Hale. Deep inside I knew that Hale wouldn't be released until I followed with Taccone's demands, which meant that I could end up as Taccone's prisoner. I was afraid that even if I followed his demands I'd get double crossed. I needed to win this…game and change the odds in my favor. I didn't know precisely how I was going to do that but I was going to try.

The smell of omelets woke up the rest of the crew. The Bagshaw brothers were the first to wake. They quickly ran to the table and inhaled their omelets even bore Gabrielle could make it to the table. I guess the boys missed Marcus' cooking. I know I did. I often wondered how Hamish and Angus could eat so much and stay thin. Perhaps it was burned off in all that nervous energy. Nick and Simon were the last to wake. For a brief moment, everyone ate in silence.

There was small chatter between the boys. Simon and Gabs talked quietly while the rest of us ate. Sapphire ate quietly and slowly. She winced every now and then, probably still in pain from the way she had been treated. After the moment of hushed conversations, the crew talked about food. "I like apple pie." Sapphire said, "It's my favorite food along with anything made of apples." She giggled.

"Apples are great!" Hamish agreed.

"Very." Angus added.

"She has a boyfriend." Stacy said as she walked over to the table. She munched on a brownie. "And he's a nerd named Tommy."

"Tommy is not a nerd." Sapphire explained.

"Yes he is but then again you're a nerd too Sapph so it makes sense you'd fall for a nerd."

"Yeah well you're just cranky so…eat something." I glanced at Stacy and she rolled her eyes at her sister. She munched on her brownie as she leaned against the counter. She watched us eat, which made everyone uncomfortable. Stacy's glare was unmoving and void of emotion. So yeah it was quite uncomfortable. Even her mere presence sucked the cheerfulness out of the kitchen. The room was silent once again and even after everyone had finished eating no one spoke. Simon and Gabs had stopped chatting and the boys didn't speak to one another either. It was strange to see how one person can change the atmosphere of a room in a matter of seconds.

"We need a plan." Sapphire said; breaking the silence.

"She's right you know." Stacy said as she moved away from the counter. "We need a plan and we need one fast."

"For once I agree with her." Gabrielle dabbed her face clean with her napkin.

I nodded, "I've been wondering what we should do and I think we should give Taccone what he wants."

"Which is what exactly?" Nick asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Stacy flicked Nick's head, "Taccone wants Bishop in jail. He wants pay back."

"He wants to destroy Kat's life like she ruined his." Sapphire added and then frowned, "Kat there's no way that any of us here would allow you to just turn yourself over to Taccone. He's a horrible man and will…harm you physically and mentally. You must reconsider this plan."

"Sapphire is right." Nick said, "You're our family Kat and we won't let Taccone hurt you."

I sighed and took a moment to look at all the staring faces of my crew. They all looked afraid and that wasn't something that easily happened. We've done dangerous things since we were small children, and yet this…was nothing like the past. I took a deep breath, "He won't leave us alone until he gets what he wants or if we send him back to prison."

"I vote for sending him back to prison." Gabs said as she filed her nails.

Simon nodded, "I agree."

"We don't have anything against him." Stacy said pointed out.

"Yes we do." Gabs looked up from her nails, "What about kidnapping?"

"And are you going to go to the cops and tell them Hale is kidnapped?" No one said a word. "Exactly, we can't just walk up to the cops without getting arrested. We're all wanted."

"Then I'll turn myself into Taccone. At least Hale will be safe and out of harm's way." I smirked, "Then we can turn things around on Taccone."

"So Kitty Kat," Angus asked, "what do you have planed?" I explained to the crew my plan. It wasn't a great plan and it wasn't full proof. But if everything went according to plan I would have Hale back and Taccone would be out of my life for good. One way or another I'd make sure Taccone never bothered my family again.

The crew shifted in their chairs as I explained my plan. They didn't look all that happy with what I had come up with. Nick's face was painted with concerned when I said I might have to wing it at one point. It wasn't my style to wing it but we didn't have the time to properly plan a good rescue mission. I could see how uncomfortable everyone was. Simon stopped eating and instead poked at his food. Hamish, who had been eating Simon's food, had even stopped eating. They were all staring and it even took the crew a solid minute to react to what I had said.

"You're crazy to think you'll do that." Gab said.

"As risky and as crazy as her plan sounds I think it might work." Stacy pointed out.

"No, it could get her hurt or killed." Gabs glared at Stacy.

"You do realize that she has a good crew to back her up and make things work? Granted you kids aren't trained fighters but that's where Sapphire and I come in hand. My sister and I have been trained in this sort of thing. We have her back too."

"And we're just supposed to trust you after what you did to Alex?!" Gabrielle frowned and stood, "You killed Alex! You killed him and didn't even care! He was your friend, Stacy and you_ killed_ him!"

Stacy clenched her jaw, "Alex _was_ my friend and I did care! Just because I didn't cry in front of all of you twerps doesn't mean I don't care. I did care… I _do_ care!"

Sapphire stood and gently said, "It's okay… just, just don't burst into flames, Miss Angry Pants."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Stacy frowned and instead of lashing out on her sister she sat down in an empty chair.

"I'm sorry everyone, Stacy has an anger issue and as you might have um seen… She's also prone to violence."

"You don't need to explain to them my issues. It's not like they'll care anyways."

"This is why you have a hard time making friends." Sapphire poked Stacy's face. "You won't make any friends if you keep fighting with everyone.

"Damn it Sapphire, shut up!"

"Hmn, grumpy." Sapphire smiled back at her sister as is if daring her to do something. I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. It was like Sapphire was playing with fire and was taunting it to dare burn her. Sapphire grinned like a mad woman; was completely un-phased of her sister's death glare.

Stacy got up from her seat and walked up to her sister. I scooted back and away from Sapphire just in case they decided to fight.

They glared at each other for a solid minute till Stacy slapped Sapphire. A yelp came from Sapphire; when Stacy got out of the way we saw the damage. Sapphire's face was bright red in the area where Stacy had hit her but instead of fighting back. Sapphire put her hands on her hips and gave her sister a disappointed look. "I'm sorry about that," Stacy smirked, "but you had it coming, Big Mouth.

Sapphire rolled her eyes and shoved Stacy away, "You're childish you know that?"

"And you're a know-it-all brat. So we're even."

"Whatever." Sapphire pouted and sipped her orange juice.

"Well now that Sapphire has shut up we can discuss what we're going to do. I think we might need more people… People that _can_ actually fight." Stacy glanced at Gabrielle and Gabs frowned back at her.

"That's too risky. Taccone might hurt Hale if we get caught." Gabrielle pointed out with a satisfied smirk. Stacy rolled her eyes and sat down.

I cleared my throat, "Then we play this as an Exchange."

"But we don't know what Taccone wants."

"I'll call him and set up a meeting. I'm sure he'll tell me what he wants in return for Hale."

Once breakfast was over everyone went off to do what they pleased. I got up from my seat and headed for the roof. I figured that would be the best place to make an intense phone call. As I stepped outside the cold morning air nipped at my nose. I shivered and pulled my sweater in tighter to keep me warm. It didn't help much but it was a habit I suppose. The cold air sent a chill down my spine along with a feeling of despair. I took a deep breath and shook the feeling away. I walked over to the ledge of the roof and pulled out my phone. I took a glance at the screen and saw the flashing message that told me I had one missed call and a voice mail.

I had forgotten to turn my phone on after I awoke this morning, but I couldn't change the past so I listened to the message instead. I didn't look to see what the number was which I suppose wasn't the best thing to do. My heart sank when I heard Hale's voice. I pressed the phone to my chest and took a moment to gather myself. I restarted the message and listened.

"_Kat! Ah!" Hale's voice rang through._

"_You hear that Katarina? That's you're precious Hale paying the price for your failure. I warned you and now he's paying the consequences of your actions."_

"_Kat! Don't! Don't listen to him! Ah!"_

"_I will give you one last chance Katarina Bishop. Meet me at the docks come with one of your little friends and we'll discuss the terms of Hale's release."_

"_No!"_

_-END MESSAGE-_

I gripped my phone and was tempted to throw it off the roof and onto the street below. Instead I pulled out the card that Taccone had given me a few days ago. I kept it in my pocket just in case I would need to call him. At that moment I realized I could not fail nor could I let Taccone see me break.

I dialed the number on the card and waited for an answer. A deep "Hello?" greeted me.

I made a fist and gritted my teeth, "I'll be at the docks at three in the afternoon." I didn't wait for Taccone to answer me. I simply hung up and slipped my phone back into my pocket. I didn't give myself much time to think about the voicemail that had been left on my phone. I was sure he had done that to psych me out; to get me to mess up, but I wasn't going to allow it. I would not allow it…I couldn't allow it.

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><p><strong>AN: Love? Hate? Please review. It makes me SO happy when I get reviews. It also reminds me to keep going!<strong>

**Side note: It's coming to an end soon, this story, and it has been a wonderful ride. ;)**


	23. Chapter 20

**AN: Here it is! Chapter 20! I finished writing the last few chapters on paper, so there will only be three more to go. I hope everyone enjoyed the story. Also I sort of skimmed this chapter while i edited it.**

**So enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: Heist Society belongs to Ally Carter; everything else belongs to ME!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 20<strong>

**KAT POV**

I stepped into the warmth of the warehouse, which wrapped around me like Hale's warm arms giving me a hug. A sense of security washed over me and I knew I was safe inside this building. As I descended down the stairs, I could see everyone chatting; most of the tension that was there this morning was gone. They were all going about their business and for a moment in time I could see the old crew; the way we all used to be. When I made it to the bottom of the steps, Sapphire was waited for me. She greeted me with a cheerful smile and a patted on the back, "So how did it go?" She asked me.

I looked up at her, realizing how much taller than me she was; probably a good four or five inches taller, "We're to meet at the docks at three in the afternoon."

"Hmn, that's only five hours from now."

"I think it should be enough time to get everything ready." I nodded.

Sapphire smiled, "Yeah I think you're right."

I couldn't possibly explain how strange it was to see Sapphire smile for everything. It just didn't make much sense especially since she looked exactly like Stacy, who frowned at everything. I suppose it's something one had to experience in person. Just telling what they did and what they're like isn't quite the same as actually being in front of these twins. They're polar opposites…perhaps they're the typical evil and good twin scenario but I think that might be a bit of an extreme comparison.

Sapphire and I both walked to the living room so that I could properly explain what had happened with my phone call. I gave the crew a shortened version of what actually happened. I left out the part about the horrid voicemail and only told them that Taccone was angry. I carefully stated how Taccone had threatened to kill Hale if I tried another rescue stunt like the one the previous night. I had stopped talking and waited for a response, but no one said a word and stared blankly at me as if they looked for a glimmer of hope.

Gabrielle cleared her throat, "So…who is going with you? Taccone did say only one other person could accompany you right?"

I nodded and looked at my crew. At that moment I realized that I couldn't take anyone with me. They were all much too valuable to me. They were not just my crew, but my family as well. I knew I couldn't bare with the idea of losing another member, and I couldn't risk their lives along with mine. "I haven't quite decided yet…"

"I'll go with you Bishop"

"You?!" Gabs frowned, "There is no way I'm letting you go with my cousin."

"If you think you're so great tell me why you should go." Stacy stared blankly and waited for a response, but Gabrielle had none. "That's what I thought. I can defend her more than you can Princess. If it ever gets violent I can protect her."

Gabrielle scoffed, "It'll never get to that point if I were to go with her but how about we let Kat settle this." She looked at me, "Who are you going to pick? Me or _her_?"

I looked at my cousin and then I looked at Stacy and I wondered who would be the best choice. However before I could answer Sapphire said, "I think that keeping the crew safe is essential, so Stacy should go. I know you all want to keep Kat safe but you are all just as important as she if and if anything went wrong we wouldn't want to lose any of you."

"I see…Stacy is the better loss then." Gabs pointed out.

"Well not exactly…"

"Yes, Princess, I am a better loss than you but it doesn't make you any more special than a piece of paper." Stacy interrupted her sister.

Gabrielle frowned and rolled her eyes, "Well better you than me."

Stacy scoffed, "Whatever, so Bishop, are we going to stick to the same plan as before? I mean it's your call."

I took a deep breath and nodded, "Yes, we all go but we have to remain hidden. Plus you would all follow me anyways so there no point if telling anyone to stay." The Bagshaw brothers grinned which reassured me that no matter where I went they'd be closely behind.

"Alright then, let's get ready, we have four hours." Stacy said. The next few hours consisted of the crew, well everyone getting ready. Things for the plan had to be set in motion and prepared. Sapphire and I supervised as everyone prepped for "battle" as Stacy liked to refer to it. Sapphire was still pretty injured but didn't want to admit it. She just sat next to me and claimed to want to keep my company, but I could see she was still bruised. She ate apples that Stacy had brought over for her. Sapphire went through dozen apples in less than an hour and almost an entire case in two hours.

When lunch came around we all got went to the table. It was perhaps around noon if not just passed noon when we all sat down. There was an awkward silence when everyone had finally gotten together. Sapphire even joined us and after eating an entire case of apples. Somehow she managed to eat more than both Hamish and Angus combined. It's a mystery how she managed to stay so thin. No one really spoke but I couldn't tell if it was due to the long couple of days that we had or if no one had anything to say. I spoke to no one and instead just observed everyone eat.

The next two hours passed very slowly.

Once we had everything prepared for the meeting with Taccone all we had left to do was wait. And it was just as nerve wrecking as waiting for exam scores. It was a feeling I didn't think that I would experience again. I spent most of the two hour pacing the warehouse. I couldn't understand how the crew was able to just sit and watch the television. When my nerves had finally drove me insane I decided that I should explore the warehouse. I thought, maybe this would keep my mind busy and away from any thoughts about Hale. I started off walking between the many parked cars that were in the warehouse. I had never ventured this far, but I was curious to see why Stacy would walk out to the cars so often. I counted a total of ten cars perfectly lined up and parked. A few of them were sports cars and one of them was a police car. The colors of the cars ranged from black, gray, and blue. There was a set of cars that looked to be fixed for street racing.

"You lookin' for something?"

I jumped at the sound and quickly turned around. Stacy was sitting on the floor leaning against one of the racing cars. I frowned, "Are you drinking?"

"Yes I am. What's it to you?" she frowned at me and took a swig of her drink.

"Aren't you…"

"Underage?" She interrupted me, "No, I'm not."

"You're twenty-one?"

"No I'm forty-two." She rolled her eyes at me, a clear sign that she was being sarcastic. "Just go away and leave me alone."

I was tempted to do so and leave her there, but something inside me told me that I should help her. I mean, after all, she was there for me when I was ready to give up on saving Hale. "Stacy?"

"I said, leave me alone, Bishop." She frowned at her large liquor bottle, "Is that too hard for you to understand?"

"You have to stop drinking. You're half way through that bottle." I pointed to the bottle and she hugged it as if I was going to taken away.

"This bottle is mine. I stole it." She took another long swig of her liquor.

"You're going to get drunk."

"I don't get drunk." She set the bottle aside and I took this chance to snatch the bottle away from her. "Hey! Give it back! That's mine!"

I held the bottle close and hoped that she wouldn't attack me. "Stop drinking!" I yelled back.

"Bishop, I swear… give it back!"

I frowned and refused, "I've had with you Stacy. You need to keep yourself in check. How are you supposed to be my back up if you're drunk? Hmn?"

"I'm not drunk." She frowned, "Stop sounding like Alex!" I hadn't realized that I had acted that way at least not till Stacy had mentioned it to me. Alex was the blunt type; especially when he spoke to Stacy. I realized at that moment that if that was what it took to get Stacy to keep from acting childish then I would have to keep up the act.

I frowned back at her, "Well at least he'd want you to stop drinking and take responsibility of your tasks. You know he'd be right."

She frowned at me and then looked away, ashamed of what she had done. She didn't ask for her bottle back instead she told me, "Fine, leave me alone, I need to think."

"I'm not leaving you alone." I offered her my hand.

She pushed my hand way, "I don't want your sympathy."

"It's not sympathy. It's called being a friend."

She laughed, "Oh that's cute but I don't have friends. I'm sure Gabrielle has made that very clear."

"What do you mean you don't have friends? You have me."

"Ha, but no, you're just a target…an acquaintance…co-worker?" She stood up and snatched the bottle from me, "You get what I'm trying to say? We can't be friends, Bishop." She frowned at me before heading off; leaving me there completely confused. I had been sure that Stacy and I had actually become friends. Unless she decided that we couldn't be friends. Perhaps she was trying to remove herself from the friendship we had created. Maybe her reality was darker than I anticipated. Honestly, it angered me to think that something was making it so difficult for Stacy to open up to someone. She had done it once before with me, but it didn't make sense as to why she would close up again. I trusted her and what had happened was not going to change the way I saw her. I knew that I could count on her to be my back up when it came to see Taccone.

I sighed and leaned on one of the cars. I wondered what had caused Stacy to snap. The only solution that I had was that she was an angry drunk. I walked back to the kitchen and sat at the table. Marcus handed me a sandwich, which I gladly took. I was a bit hungry and well…I missed his cooking. "How are you feeling Marcus?" I asked as I munched on the delicious sandwich.

"Much better Miss Bishop."

I smiled, "That's good…and so is this sandwich."

He smiled, "Thank you Miss Bishop." He walked off to clean the kitchen and the rest of the warehouse. I had noticed he had taken well to what had occurred to him. I don't think that I would have been that calm after finding out that I had been in a coma. I admired him for his strength. He was more than just a butler. I came to care for him as a member of this family and I knew the others did as well.

While I ate and paced the warehouse the other prepared of sat and watched the television. I couldn't help in much of anything. Everyone had their own task; mine was to be bait. No one would admit to that but it was true…I was bait. I knew that I couldn't dwell on the fact that this was my last chance at saving Hale. I tried to do other things, help prepare but the crew didn't need me and so I fell back into the same loop. I worried about Hale. I wanted him back. I needed to hold him; tell him how much I really loved him.

As the time approached two in the afternoon, my anxious feelings only got worse. I had been sitting on the couch counting the number beer commercial on the channel I was watching. It was ten out of fifteen commercials that I had seen.

"Kat?" I jumped a bit and nearly fell off the couch. Sapphire giggled and helped me up, "We're ready to go. Stacy is waiting for you in her car. You know which one that is right?"

I nodded. Of course I knew which car was hers. I had ridden in it twice. It was a black car, Crysler 300, one of the newer models. "Is that where she's been hiding?" I asked.

Sapphire smiled, "Yeah she likes to think in her car, but she's okay. I helped her calm down."

I nodded, "But aren't you still hurt?"

"I'm much better and I was sitting in the car with her. No fighting so it wasn't much of a hassle." she smiled. "I promise."

I sighed, "Well alright."

She smiled at me and handed me a coms-unit. Sapphire explained to me how she and the others will be in the van monitoring us. She told me that Stacy had been given a coms-unit as well, just in case we got separated during the exchange. Then Sapphire give me a big and breath stealing hug, as if she would never see me again. She ushered me off to Stacy's car. I wasn't too anxious to get into Stacy's car. Actually I wasn't too anxious to see Stacy after what had occurred between us.

An easy feeling washed over me as I approached her car. I paused for a moment and looked at the car. I could see Stacy inside, dozing and listening to her mp3 player. She looked comfortable and I didn't want to bother her. I took a deep breath and gently knocked on the window of the car. Stacy frowned and opened one eye. She sat up and unlocked the car. I got in and sat in my seat silently. Neither one of us said a word; we waited till the all clear sign.

Once nick gave us the sign. Stacy started the car and without any warning said, "Try and keep up, kids." She raced off. I clung to my seat for dear life. Nick was driving the van. I had seen him through the side view mirror. He tried to keep up but I didn't think that a van could maneuver as easily as a four door car. My stomach churned as the car turned the corner and ran red lights. Somehow, despite all the crazy turns and speeding the van managed to keep up with Stacy. When I took another glance back I saw Sapphire at the wheel. I suppose that explained why the van was able to keep up with Stacy. She drove just as dangerously fast as Stacy, maybe it was a twin thing.

It took about fifteen minutes to arrive at the docks, especially at the crazy speed that we traveled. It was meant to be a twenty-five minute drive and yet somehow we managed to shorten the time by a good ten minutes. I was still gripping the seat when the car had finally stopped.

Stacy smirked, "Chill, Bishop we're here."

I glanced back, "Where's the van?"

"Sapph parked the van somewhere out of sight. C'mon I think I see Taccone's car from here." She pulled out a gun from the glove compartment and cocked it.

I leaned back into the seat, "Whoa…a gun? Is…is that really necessary?"

"I believe so, yes." She frowned, "C'mon lets go." She got out of the car and hid her gun. "Do you have a weapon?"

"Um…no I don't."

She frowned but handed me a knife that she had hidden in her boot. "Use this if you need too. Don't worry I have an extra one."

I nodded and took the knife. I wrapped it and placed it in my pocket. We both headed over to a black car. Stacy stepped up to the window and tapped on the tinted glass. The window rolled down and on the other side of that window was Alejandro. Not exactly the man I hoped to see.

Stacy sneered, "Alejandro."

"Ah, Stacy; Kat. What a pleasure it is to see you beautiful girls."

"Cut the crap Alejandro. Where are Taccone and the boy?"

"Stacy such a lady, the boy is inside the fishery, with Taccone."

"C'mon Bishop, let's go." She grabbed my arm as she turned to the fish warehouse.

"Hold on, Stacy. Clean out your pockets. I know you have weapons on you." He smirked, "You always do."

She turned and faced Alejandro, "I'm not doing anything for you."

"Then you must be well prepared."

"Do you honestly think we'd attack while we're clearly outnumbered? We're not stupid."

"Hmn well if you do attack, remember we shoot to kill and I would be more than happy to kill you Stacy."

"Likewise Alejandro."

I tensed and pulled Stacy back, "Don't worry, we won't attack."

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><p><strong>AN: Love? Hate? Please review. It makes me SO happy when I get reviews. It also reminds me to keep going!<strong>

**Side note: It's coming to an end soon, this story, and it has been a wonderful ride. ;)**


	24. Chapter 21

**AN: Here it is! Chapter 21! Its a little short but I also already wanted to post so here it is! Also I sort of skimmed this chapter while i edited it. **

**So enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: Heist Society belongs to Ally Carter; everything else belongs to ME!**

**WARNING: There is a bit of foul language in this chapter, digression is advised. :)**

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><p><strong>Chapter 21 <strong>

**Kat POV**

Stacy and I walked to the fishery. I walked behind her, tense, worried and slightly afraid of what might happen. I knew this task would be risky and dangerous, but I had to rescue Hale at any cost. As we approached the old building I could smell the fish that once inhabited this place. The stench was nauseating and I really hopped that I didn't throw up my lunch. Stacy stepped inside the building first. I followed right behind her. The fish smell was worse inside than it was on the outside of this building. I gagged as the smell crept up my nose and down my throat. I ignored the stench as much as possible and stepped deeper inside the fishery. It was a bit difficult to ignore once my eye started to sting.

The building had dim lighting and was more dark than light. As my eye adjusted to the dark room I noticed that Stacy had stopped walking. I ran into her and she held her arm out to keep me from walking forward. Once my eyes adjusted to the dim room I could see how rundown the fisher was. It must have been abandoned for a while now. Some of the beams were rusted and covered in mold. My nose ruffled at the horrible conditions of the building. The floors were still wet which must have meant that the water nearby must have slipped in through one of the many cracks. I didn't want to be there any longer than I had to be.

Taccone approached us with two goons and no Hale. I frowned; worried that Taccone had pulled another one of his tricks on us. Taccone spread his arms and grinned, as if welcoming us to his home, "Katarina, I am so glad you arrived and with the girl."

Stacy frowned, "Where's the boy?"

"He's somewhere safe. I assure you."

"Bull shit, hand the boy over and we'll be on our way."

"Gladly, but what will I get in return?" Taccone looked at me and smiled.

"You won't get my fist in your face." Stacy sneered.

Taccone was still smiling very pleasantly, "Violent little thing aren't you?"

Stacy stepped forward as if daring Taccone to challenge her to a fist fight. I asked before it could get to an actual fight, "What is it that you want in return for Hale?"

Taccone smiled at me, "That is a question I can answer." He looked straight at me. "I'll take you Katarina."

I stepped back, "What?"

"Like hell, you will. I'm not letting you take her."

"You should reconsider my offer." He snapped his fingers and out from the shadows, two mean and Hale walked out. Hale walked over to us with no emotion. He didn't look at me he hadn't even glanced over to me. My heart sank and realized something was wrong with Hale. He had been beaten, his left eye swollen shut. Is right leg was bleeding and his torso was covered in cuts. I was surprised he could even stand with all the injuries that he obtained. Hales good eye was glazed over and he didn't seem to be completely aware of what was happening.

"He's been a lot of trouble." Taccone said. "He had to be disciplined."

"Disciplined?" I asked.

"Yes, but he behaves now." He looked at Hale, "Don't you?" Hale nodded and stepped up closer to Taccone.

I frowned, "Hale?" He didn't look at me and instead stood at attention.

"What did you do to him?!" Stacy held me back before I could attack Taccone.

Taccone laughed, "He's been disciplined and does as I say. Watch." He motioned for Hale to step forward, "Slap Katarina for me."

Hale stepped close to me and stared straight at me. There was no emotion, no recognition of who I was. He stepped up closer and his expression changed for a second. He looked like he was in pain; then he slapped me. "I'm sorry." He mouthed as he stepped back to his place and stood at attention. He winced and rubbed his neck as he found his place behind Taccone.

"Is that…a shock collar?" Stacy frowned and glared at Taccone. "You, son of a Bitch!"

"Let him go and…and take me." I said and stepped forward, "Take me."

"No. Bishop I can't let you do that."

I looked back at Stacy and frowned, "No, Stacy I have too. It's the only way I will Hale back and you know it."

She grabbed my hand, "No…"

"Well then," Taccone interrupted, "We'll just take her by force."

Stacy quickly pulled out her gun, "I don't think so." She pointed it to Taccone. "Hand the boy over and we'll just leave."

"No I don't think we'll comply." He smirked, "Get Katarina and get rid of the boy."

"Bishop, hide!" Stacy shot the two men that were approaching us. She hadn't killed them so they fired back. She dived behind an old barrel that had been left behind. I spotted Hale being led away and so I ran after him. Stacy continued to fire back, opening a sort of passage for me to get to Hale. I ran as fast as I could but I lost visual of Hale and the others when they turned the corner into some dark halls. I followed without a single second thought. I ran straight into the dark hall. I couldn't see Hale anymore or anyone for that matter. I slowed down and walked. I ran my hand against the nearest wall, so that I wouldn't crash into anything.

I frowned when my ear piece caught a bunch of static. I took it out of my ear and placed it in my pocket. I knew it had been jammed and that I had to be extra careful. I caught a glimpse of a figure moving and I followed them around the next corner. I frowned when I realized this hall was much darker than the others. I wished I had a flashlight; then suddenly I was pulled back. I struggled and pulled away. Something…someone slammed me against the wall. I yelped in pain and slid down a bit to sit, but whoever had me wouldn't let me. Instead I was turned around and shoved, face first into the wall. I winced when the wall and my face made contact. The wall was cold; probably made of concrete. A cold sting burned the side of my face.

I yelped when I realized my hands were being tied together. I yelled so that maybe Stacy would hear me, but this person, who had captured me didn't like it. I was gagged and slammed against the wall once more. I stopped screaming due to the pain. I was picked up and carried down the hall and into another room. I was dropped on the floor onto some smelly burlap sacks. Taccone was there, he paced as two guards worked on something. I couldn't see what it was form the place I had been. Hale was standing to the side, like a soldier, at attention.

"Hurry before that girl finds us." Taccone demanded as he pushed Hale towards me. "Take Katarina to the boat."

Hale stumbled forward; then walked over to me He keeled in front of him. I stared straight at him but he didn't look at me, he had glanced back; then he smiled. "Hello Kitty Kat." He removed the cloth that kept me from speaking.

"Hale…"

He placed his finger on my lips, "Shh, Taccone plans to destroy this place and leave us in here. He thinks he's broken me but I'm much stronger than he thinks." He smirked; then touched my face. His hands were rough and not at all like what they used to be. "When I let you go I want you to kick me."

"What?"

"You need to make it look like you're fighting me. I want you to escape. Run out this room and head to the right, down the hall is the exit."

"I'm not leaving you behind." I frowned.

"You will." He frowned at me and glanced back to see is anyone had been looking. He then set to untie me.

I squirmed to get his attention, "I'm not leaving you, Hale. I can't."

He grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me once, "You escape and I'll defuse that bomb."

"No, we escape together."

"Shh." He kissed me. I missed his kisses and for a moment I was lost. I hadn't realized Hale had been pulled away from me. I hadn't realized it till it was too late. I stood up and ran over to him but I was pushed back onto the burlap sacks. Hale was beaten, shocked with that collar and I couldn't do anything about it. He was pinned to the ground and restrained.

I got up once more, "Leave him alone!" I managed to dodge one of the men as I ran towards Hale.

"Grab Katarina and leave the boy!" Taccone demanded.

I was picked up and carried away, "Hale!" I caught a glance at Taccone. He was smirking as he headed out the back door. Hale was still on the ground, unable to get up. His face was bloody and pain contorted his face. I squirmed to get free. I knew that I could not give up and I didn't. I managed to get my wrists untied. I hit the man carrying me as hard as I possibly could. He dropped me and I did my best to ignore the pain. I ran to Hale to set him free.

"No…Kat you have to get out of here."

I frowned and untied his wrists, "I'm not leaving you. Not again and not ever. I love you."

Hal blinked then smiled, "I…Kat look out!"

I cocked my head to the side and noticed his expression. I looked behind me an only had a split second to act. I pulled the dagger that Stacy had lent me and threw it at the man. It missed and only made him angry. I hugged Hale tightly. If I died, at least he'd be the last think I saw. Suddenly there was a loud pop followed by a thud. I looked up and saw the man on the floor.

"Nice throw Bishop, but net time aim better." She handed me the dagger I had thrown.

"Stacy!" I yelled in excitement. I used it to cut the ropes that restrained Hale before I pocketed the dagger.

Stacy frowned, "Hey is that a bomb on the floor?"

I nodded and Hale said, "Its set for fifteen minutes but I think we only have five minutes left.

"Well then," Stacy helped me to get Hale to stand, "We better run." She fired at two men that had entered the room. "And fast."

We stepped out and I pointed, "Down this hall is the exit. It looks like the shortest route."

Stacy nodded and walked down the hall in front of us. She shot at anyone who got too close but we weren't going too fast. We ran as fast as possible but we were slowing down. Hale was limping more and more as we approached the exit. His leg was bleeding really badly and he was getting heavy.

"Stacy, slow down. Hale can't keep up." Hale and I had stopped, to give him a break.

Stacy turned and looked at us. She frowned and ran over, "We got to get out of here now." She grabbed onto the other side of Hale, "C'mon we'll carry him out together."

I nodded and helped Stacy. We walked a bit faster now but still we weren't running. "Kat…" Hale coughed, "Go on, get out of here."

I didn't look at him and instead stared at the exit. It was so close I could feel the fresh air from outside, "Not without you. I already told you."

"Kitty Kat…"

"No. Hale."

"C'mon love birds, we're almost there." Stacy interrupted and soon we made it to the door. Stacy helped Hale out after I stepped out, since the three of us couldn't go through the door all at once. Across the street I saw the van.

Sapphire jumped out of the van and smiled. "You've made it!" she rushed over to us.

We walked out and were at a good distance from the building when a flash blinded me. I was shoved forward and landed on the ground. The bomb had gone off. I looked back at the burning building. Debris covered the ground. I saw Hale under a beam. I rushed over to pull him out when a second explosion occurred and knocked me back. I hit my head hard and everything went black.

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><p><strong>AN: Love? Hate? Please review. It makes me SO happy when I get reviews. It also reminds me to keep going!<strong>

**Side note: Please know that there are either one or two chapters left so don't panic :)**


	25. Chapter 22

**AN: Here it is! Chapter 22! I sort of skimmed this chapter while i edited it and is probably not properly edited.**

**So enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: Heist Society belongs to Ally Carter; everything else belongs to ME!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 22 <strong>

**Kat POV**

When I awoke I couldn't feel my legs. I was trapped under the debris of the building. I could see a faint light above me and the scent of smoke stung my eyes. I tried to move but I couldn't. A sharp pain shot down my arm and at that moment I realized I was trapped. There was no escaping out of this alone. My mind wandered to Hale. I smiled at the thought that I had gotten the chance to see Hale one last time. I could hear voices above me my calling my name. I tried to scream, to call out a response but I couldn't. My voice failed me; I couldn't speak. I looked up at the light above me and smiled, taking in the warmth before I passed out.

The second time I awoke I was surrounded by strange people. Voices yelled out words that I couldn't comprehend. I tried to move once again but I couldn't feel the rest of my body. I wasn't in pain anymore but I couldn't feel anything in general. I panicked and thrashed, or at least that's what it felt like. I managed to get the attention of the strange men. They looked at me and held me down. "Everything will be okay." One of the men said and suddenly everything felt hazy. I didn't remember what happened next.

The third time I woke up I felt sore. Every part of me ached and an insufferable sadness loomed over me. I was in a plain beige room, there was a small TV hanging from the wall in front of me and a curtain to the right. It smelled of old and sick people. I looked at myself and saw wires and tubes attacked to my arm. My other arm was in a cast. It was clearly a hospital bed. I was alone in the room at least from what I could tell.

I sighed and stared at the black screen of the television. I tried to piece together what had occurred. I remembered only bits and pieces of what had happened after the blast. I wondered what had happened to the crew. Had they followed me here? Did the hospital know who I was? I quickly ripped out the IV and got out of bed. My legs gave out underneath me and I fell. I hit the floor hard. It didn't take too long for a nurse to come and see what happened. The alarms on the machines had been going off for a solid three minutes when the nurse arrived. She gasped and helped me up off the floor.

She rambled on about how I shouldn't be out of bed. I paid very little attention to what she said to me. I let her hook me back up to the machines and looked around the room. I spotted a phone at my bedside and decided that once the nurse left I would have to call someone. I rattled my mind on who I should call. I grabbed the phone when I remembered Gabrielle's number. I dialed. I waited and waited for someone to pick up but no one did. I sighed and put the phone back in its place.

During lunch I was given a Salisbury steak sandwich with a salad and Jell-O cup. I was given orange juice as a drink. I munched away as I wondered what was next. I didn't have to wait too long, when two cops showed up in my room. I tensed but I supposed that it would have to have happen sooner or later. I was involved in a fishery explosion. I answered all the questions I could but I made it obvious to them that I didn't know much. I asked them questions instead but they wouldn't tell me a thing.

Once they were gone I pushed my food away having lost my appetite. I took a nap and awoke to a shrill, "Kitty Kat you're okay!"

I sat up and rubbed an eye, "Gabs?" I blinked and once my eyesight adjusted I saw Nick, and my cousin standing before me. Nick was holding a bunch of balloons and Gabs was holding a teddy bear. "Nick?"

They smiled at me, "You're okay?" Gabs asked me.

"I suppose so." I looked at them, "Where is everyone else?"

"They wouldn't let us all in, but we brought you a few things." She handed me the teddy bear.

I took the teddy bear and set it on my lap, "Is Hale in the hospital too?"

Nick and Gabs glances at each other, "Kitty Kat…"

"Where is Hale?"

Nick's expression changed, "They didn't find Hale and Stacy's bodies."

"What…what do you mean that they haven't found their bodies? Are they alive? What…what is it?" I frowned and hugged the teddy bear.

"They're dead…"

I frowned, "You better not be messing with me because it isn't funny."

"Kat I swear I would never joke about something like that. If I find something out I'll let you know but right now the police are saying they haven't recovered any bodies yet. Kat, you're the only one they've pulled out of the blast."

I stared at Nick and was waiting for him to smile and tell me he was joking…but deep inside I knew he wasn't. It wasn't his style, not even Hamish and Angus would pull a joke like that. I looked at Gabrielle and she shook her head. I leaned back into the bed and stared up at the ceiling. I wasn't sure how to take the news. I wasn't panicked, I wasn't afraid…I suppose I was more confused and shocked than anything else.

"Kitty Kat…they'll find him. Keep faith."

"Faith?" I scoffed a sudden rage bubbling inside me and tempted to escape. "Faith! I've had faith and where has it taken me?!" I didn't give them a chance to answer me, "Nowhere, that's where!"

"Kitty Kat…" Gabrielle stepped closer and said in a soothing tone, "Please, calm down. We did everything possible to get him back."

"Yeah?" I frowned at my cousin, "And we failed! He's dead!"

"You don't know that…we don't know that for sure." Nick answered. "Kat you have to calm down."

"Calm down?! No!" I sat up and frowned while I tried to get out of the bed.

Nick quickly came to my side and said, "Please Kat, we can't give in now, after everything we went through."

My anger deflated and I lay back in bed. I knew that I wouldn't function without Hale. I feared I would go insane if he was in fact dead. I sighed and looked at Nick. He smiled warmly and sat next to me. He took my hand gently in his and smiled. I felt safe with Nick by my side and I knew then that everything would be better.

Gabrielle and Nick spent the rest of the day with me, at least till visiting hours where over. My cousin insisted that she stay and spend the night with me but I wasn't sure that it was best. In reality I wanted my father to be there with me. Only problem was that my father was in Spain and I was nowhere near Spain. Once Gabs and Nick left I was alone in the room. I allowed myself to get some rest. I was tired. I ached and I was anxious to get out of the hospital. I wanted to search of Hale. I needed to know where he was.

I made the mistake of thinking that it was possible to actually sleep soundly. I didn't. I had nightmares; continuous nightmares. I was running down the hall; away from someone who had been chasing me. My footsteps echoed as I ran faster and faster. I couldn't speak but I knew I had to keep running. Suddenly I fell through a hole and onto a couch. I was back at the warehouse. Most of the crew was gone and only two people sat at the computers. I got up form my seat and walked over. Carefully, I approached the pair. I blinked when I saw who they were. It was Hale and Stacy…only Stacy was sitting one Hale's lap. She smirked and me and pulled a gun on me. Before I could tell her to stop she shot me.

I jolted awake and sighed when I realized I was in the hospital bed once again. The room was dark and the glow of the hallway light shinned from underneath the door. The machines at my bedside beeped as they monitored my vitals. I could hear muttering outside my door, the nurses had been chatting. I was tempted to call a nurse and ask for a glass of water. I looked for the remote that had been on my bed before I had fallen asleep but I couldn't find it.

"Looking for this?" I heard a deep voice ask. I turned to the sound of the voice and froze when I saw who it was.

"I'm dreaming, right?"

"No, you're not."

I frowned, "How did you get in here?"

"I was let in through the front door, Katarina."

"Get out." I frowned and gripped the rail on the bed.

"That's no way to treat a guest."

"You're not a guest, Taccone. Get out of my room or I'll scream."

"Now, now, Katarina, hear me out."

I frowned, "Fine."

"Hale is alive and as is that girl. She saved him but they don't look to be in such good condition. They're in a private hospital so don't bother looking for them."

"You have them?!"

"Shh, I don't have them. They're under someone else's care." Taccone stepped out of the shadows and smiled.

"Then why are you here?"

"I was here to see you Katarina and I wanted to see you're expression when you found out the truth. Hale is dying." He turned away and headed for the door. Good night Katarina; have a good night's rest."

I quickly got up out of my bed and fell face first onto the ground. Soon the alarms went off in the building and a nurse rushed into my room. She helped me up back into my bed and slipped me something to get me woozy. I passed out and when I awoke it was morning and Amelia Bennett was at the foot of my bed.

I stared at her for a solid good minute, taking in what I was seeing. I had never spent more than a moment with her. It was always in passing or Nick would contact her but never had I been face to face. The last I had seen of her was when we stopped the Cursed Emerald from being stolen. She smiled warmly at me and for a moment didn't appear much as an agent but rather a concerned mother.

"Good morning Miss Bishop." She stepped closer to the bed.

"Morning." I answered.

"My name is Amelia Bennett, Nick's mother; I came to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind answering them?"

"No not at all." That was a total lie. I was terrified of what was to happen if she realized that I had so much to do with that explosion at the docks.

"It's in regard to the explosion at the docks. It's suspected that Taccone was spotted there. Was he there?"

I paused for a moment as I collected my thoughts, "I told the police everything I know."

"Yes and they have informed Interpol but there are a few things that don't fit. We need clarification on these loose ends."

I nodded and recalled the lies I had told the police, "Am I in trouble?"

"Not in the slightest, but we would like the complete truth."

I took a deep breath before I answered, "Taccone was there."

She nodded and said, "He kidnapped W.W. Hale the Fifth and they were last suspected to be seen at the fishery."

I nodded, "They were both there." I played with the blanket that I was using.

"Anything else?" She asked me.

"Taccone asked me to come to negotiate a trade for Hale's safety. But he lied and tried to kill us."

"Hmn," Amelia wrote in her note pad, "What about her?" She showed me a picture of Stacy. I blinked and took the picture. It was after the blast; she looked injured and tired. She was carrying someone…Hale.

"Stacy…" I muttered.

"So you know her?"

"Yes…She was helping me get Hale back." I looked at Amelia. "Why?"

"Did you know she's a dangerous criminal?"

I looked at her and said, "My father is a wanted criminal. It's kind of the crowd of people I hang out with."

She frowned a bit and returned to her agent mode. "Katarina Bishop, I am trying to help."

"But it's true. I'm around those kinds of persons. Stacy is dangerous but she's missing too, right?"

"Yes she is and no hospital show record of having her or…"

"Hale." I nodded and slipped deep into the covers, "I see, well that's all I can give you. Taccone was there; he kidnapped Hale and tried to kill us."

"Well Katarina, we'll keep searching for them."

I nodded and rolled over to my side. I didn't want to talk about it anymore and all I wanted was to get out of the hospital and start my own search. I heard Amelia sigh, "Alright, you best rest Katarina; we'll contact you if we need to ask for more questions."

"Okay," I turned over and looked at her, "Bye."

"Good bye Miss Bishop." She left the room and I was once again alone. I took another nap and awoke for lunch. I only ate the jello and watched the television. The news was on and a report of the explosion was the focus of the day's events. I cringed when my name was mentioned on the news's report. I hadn't taken into consideration what was going to happen when it was reported to the public. Normally I'm out of the limelight and in the shadows watching as someone else got all the credit or the fault. Never was I part of the focus. A sense of fear overcame me when I realized, the news stations would probably want to talk to me. I knew that I'd have to leave the hospital and hide somewhere I wouldn't be found. That would be my first step.

I looked up at the machinery that I was attached too and I found the off switch. I slowly got up and out of bed. I managed to stand, I was shaky but I was stable enough to walk towards the machine and shut it off. I then pulled out the IV out of my arm. I winced and nearly fainted when blood oozed out of my arm. I grabbed a few tissues and placed them where the IV had been. I walked over to the closet and found my clothes. They were scorched and it had holes in them, but I ignored that fact and slipped them on. I then walked to the window and spotted how low it was to the ground, but the window didn't budge. I frowned and headed to the bathroom. I was lucky enough that there was a vent inside the bathroom. There wasn't a window but a vent would do just as fine. I closed the door and slipped up into the vent.

As I crawled through the vent I realized I had no idea where I was going so instead I followed the bits of light that seeped through. At every opening I would look down to see what was below me. I would have had to guess that it took me ten minutes to find a good opening where I could sneak out. I slipped out into an empty bathroom. I cleaned up my clothes as much as possible before heading out of the bathroom. I found and exit and parted from the hospital. I briskly walked away from the hospital to the nearest payphone, which are much harder to find than they used to be. I picked up the phone and called Marcus. Just as soon as I called Marcus, he was there to pick me up and take me to the Hale mansion.

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><p><strong>AN: Love? Hate? Please review. It makes me SO happy when I get reviews. It also reminds me to keep going!<strong>

**Side note: Please know that there are either one or two chapters left so don't panic :) **

**[Also it took a really unexpected turn for me at the end there :o]**


	26. Chapter 23

**AN: Here it is! Chapter 23! I sort of skimmed this chapter while i edited it and is probably not properly edited.**

**This is officially the LAST chapter. **

**So enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: Heist Society belongs to Ally Carter; everything else belongs to ME!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 23 <strong>

**Kat POV**

I stepped into the limo and Marcus drove me to Hale's mansion. I slept on the drive to the mansion. I was so tired and exhausted from all that had happened. I needed the rest. When we arrived at the mansion, Marcus woke me up. I shifted groggily in my seat and blinked up at him. "Marcus?"

"We have arrived Miss Bishop."

I nodded, "Thanks Marcus." I smiled at him as I stepped out of the car. Marcus shut the door behind me and we both headed inside the Hale mansion. It was dark inside, for no one was there. Not even my crew. I wondered where they had decided to stay. Perhaps they were still at the warehouse? I flipped the switch and I saw him sitting on the couch.

"Hale?" I grinned, "Hale!" I ran over to him; ignoring my injuries. He stood and smiled at me. He hugged me and I finally felt warm again. His arms wrapped around me and I never wanted him to let go. "I thought…they said no one survived."

I looked up at him and blinked when he kissed my forehead. "Stacy saved my life and shoved me into the water."

"The water? Were we that close to the water?"

He nodded, "We were."

"Then…then where's Stacy?" Hale's smile faltered and I expected the worse. "Hale, where is she?"

"Taccone has her and he…"

"What?"

Hale frowned and scooped me up and tossed me over shoulder. I wiggle and screamed, "Hale, what are you doing?! Put me down!" he didn't answer me and held me tight. I wiggled and screamed to get Marcus' attention…well anyone's attention. No one came to my aid. Hale tossed me into the back of a limo where was restrained and tossed onto the floor. I wiggled to escape out of my binds but nothing worked. I saw Hale; he sat at the other end of the limo next to…Taccone. I should have figured that he still had a grip on Hale. I frowned and tried to say something, but the tape across my mouth wouldn't allow it.

I watched Hale's vacant eyes stare straight across the limo. He didn't glace at me, not a single time. My heart shattered into a thousand tiny pieces as I watched the love of my life controlled by a heartless man. I heard a muffled sound above me. I turned and maneuvered to get a look at who was sitting above me. I blinked when I saw who it was. Stacy was sitting between two large guards. She was bound and gagged. She looked like she was being smashed between the two guards. I tried to make contact with Stacy but she had been blindfolded as well.

On our trip, no one spoke. I watched Taccone sip wine casually. Hale occasionally stared out the window and the guards kept Stacy under control. I wiggled around as I tried to get free, but I couldn't. I winced when Hale kicked my leg and glared at me as if daring me to move again. I frowned and looked away. I wasn't sure what to think so I avoided looking at Hale.

The ride was long and tiring. At one point I fell asleep. I awoke in another building in a cold room on an old bed. I was still tied up but the tape had fallen off. Stacy was on the other side of the room on the floor. She looked like she had been beaten and injured. I looked around and spotted a camera in the corner. I frowned and whispered, "Stacy. Stacy, are you alright? Are you awake?" She didn't answer me and I glared at the camera that was strategically placed in the corner.

A few hours later Taccone came into the room. He grinned at me and kicked Stacy as he passed by. "Leave her alone!" I frowned, "What do you want?"

"Ah, Katarina, straight to business I see."

"What did you do to Hale?!"

"I told you I trained him. He behaves now and soon so shall you and this girl." He nudged Stacy with his foot and she moaned in pain.

"You're a sick man."

He laughed and grinned, "No mere common criminal is normal and neither are you. You will work for me whether you like it or not."

I frowned, "I will never work for you Taccone. Never!"

He laughed, "We'll see about that Katarina."

"Uh..." I heard Stacy mutter. Taccone looked down at her and grinned. He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her up. She yelped in pain and glared as she was forced to sit up. She winced and was having a hard time staying seated.

"Stop it!" I wiggled. I wanted to help her and stop Taccone, but couldn't. "Leave her alone. She's not part of this."

"Oh little Katarina, but she is. She has always been a part of this." He tossed Stacy aside and she hit the floor with a loud thud. Taccone smiled at the satisfying sound her body made. Stacy, on the other hand, winced and curled up into a ball. I heard a sniffle escape from her and that made Taccone smile once more. "Soon she'll be under my control and you, Katarina will be next. Then the rest of your little family will join you."

"No!" I wiggled and only managed to tighten the rope around my wrists, "Leave my family out of this!"

"I have a proposition for you then my dear." He grinned, "You stay here and work for me. I will leave your family alone as long as they never try to make contact with you."

I tensed, "What?"

"It's only fair. I paid the price and spent my time in prison. Now it's your turn Katarina." I gasped and stared blankly at him. What was I to say? He noticed my fear and laughed, "I'll give you till tomorrow to consider this. Sweet dreams Katarina." Taccone then stepped out of the room and left me alone with an unconscious Stacy.

It took me a few hours to sleep. My dream was strange. I was back at the hospital bed. I was connected to so many wires that I felt tied down. I looked around the empty room. The lights were off and only a glow from underneath the door lit the room. The television was on a channel that didn't register. I looked around for the remote control. I couldn't find it and so I ignored the TV and stared out the window. The room was quiet; with only the murmurs of the nurses outside and the beeps of the monitors.

There was nothing abnormal about this dream. I was just stuck in a nightmare of a hospital. I didn't want to be there. I wanted to be with Hale. I wanted all of this get fixed. I wanted this to end. I frowned and pulled out the wires and tubing that was attached to me. The machined rung in alarm; I kicked the machine over and ran over to the window. The nurse came in after me and tried to pry me off the window. I wiggled and screamed. I refused to stay any longer. A few more nurses came to keep me from jumping out the window. Granted I wasn't trying to kill myself. I was merely going to climb the side of the building; down the vines that lined the wall.

The nurses carried me back to the bed. I continued to struggle as I demanded to be free. No one listened to me and instead I was restrained to the bed like some dangerous criminal. I kept struggling to get loose but nothing worked. Shortly after, I was pricked with a sedative. I jolted awake from my nightmare and realized I was still being helped captive. I looked around and Stacy was missing. She was no longer on the floor. I was alone in the room and my wrists were aching. I must have moved in my dream and made the rope get tighter.

Shortly after I awoke Hale came into the room. He frowned and my and picked me up. He slung me over his shoulder like I was nothing but a sack of potatoes. I wiggled to get his attention. Hale shook me and I frowned, "Hale, we have to talk."

"Shut up."

"Hale, it's me. You remember me right?"

He shook me and said, "Shut up or I'll make you shut up."

I sighed and let him take me. I couldn't escape and there was no way I was going to get through to him. He took me down the hall and into another room. He set me on a chair. The room was dark and I couldn't see much. Hale frowned at me and then covered my head with a cloth bag. I tensed; unsure of what was going on. I listened to my surroundings as I waited. I tried to remain calm. I heard footsteps and something being dragged along the floor. I heard a thud right in front of me. I frowned and tensed as a hand touched my shoulder. I kept calm and stayed perfectly still. Someone pulled the cloth bag off of my head. The lights blinded me, and I looked away. When my sight finally adjusted I saw Stacy lying on the floor before me. I looked up and Taccone stood beside me. Hale was on my other side. He was frowning and held a gun in him right hand.

Taccone grinned at me and touched my face, I flinched. "So Katarina have you made your decision?"

I frowned and moved my face away from his hand, "Yes I have."

"And?"

"And I say no. You're only going to go back on your word." He frowned and slapped me. I yelped in pain and glanced at Hale. I was hoping he would step up to my defense but he didn't. "Violence won't change what I chose."

He frowned and snapped his fingers; two guards came out of the shadows and pulled Stacy up to her feet. I frowned and glanced at Hale, when he stepped forward. "Shoot her." Taccone ordered.

"What?! No! Hale, don't do it! Please, Stacy is your friend. She tried to save you!"

Taccone slapped me again, "Silence." He turned to Hale, "Shoot her in the leg. Do it. Now."

Hale didn't hesitate and shot Stacy in the leg. She screamed in pain and her body limped. "No! Stop!" I looked at Taccone, "Please stop."

"Then you agree to my terms and you work for me."

I hesitated and looked at Stacy she looked back at me. I saw it in her. She didn't want me to agree. I frowned and looked up at Taccone. "No. I cannot agree with you. There's no way I can work for a man as cruel as you." I spat in his face and he frowned at me.

"Fine, have it your way." He looked at Hale, "Kill them. Both of them"

"What?" I blinked, "No!"

Hale didn't wait for me to finish speaking. He shot Stacy in the head and she fell over. Blood splattered the guards that held her up. I stared at the floor and soon realized that I was next. I looked up at Hale and cried. "Please, you can't do this. I love you Hale. I love you!"

He didn't answer me and I might as well have spoken to a wall because what he did next…well. He shot me and everything turned black for a split second. Suddenly I heard voices around me. My entire body ached and I felt heavy. I blinked and looked up at the blinding lights above me. I saw a few faces but everything was so…blurry. I couldn't focus.

"She's awake!" I heard someone say.

"Kat? Kat? Kat are you awake?" I heard another ask me. I blinked and soon my eyesight had regained its focus. I saw the crew circled around the bed I had been laying on. Nick, Gabs, the Bagshaw brothers and Simon were all there. I tried to sit up but I was in so much pain I decided that laying was my best option.

Gabs hugged me before I could even ask what had happed, "Oh you're awake. You're finally awake!"

"Ow…Gabs…Gabs you're squeezing me."

"I'm sorry! I was just so worried about you Kitty Kat. You were asleep for so long."

"How long was I out?"

The crew glanced at each other, "About a month." My cousin answered me.

"A month?" I blinked and managed to muster up the courage to ask, "What happened?"

"You were the only survivor Kitty Kat."

I frowned, "Survivor? What are you talking about Gabs?"

"The explosion, you were the only one to survive the blast."

I paused and looked at them. I was sure that I had just been shot, why then did they talk to me about the blast? I looked down at myself and inspected any possible gunshot injuries and there were none. I looked back up at Gabs and asked, "You mean….Hale and Stacy are…dead?"

She nodded, "I'm so sorry Kitty Kat." That's when it hit me. I had dreamed that Hale shot me when in reality…Hale was gone.

Hale was gone. I was alive. Stacy was gone. I was alive. Hale was dead.

Dead.

The next thing I remembered was being consoled by Nick. He held me close as I cried into his chest. My life had changed dramatically all in a few days and deep inside I didn't know who to blame. I wanted to blame Stacy and Sapphire because their father put us in so much danger. But I also wanted to blame myself for not watching out for everyone like I should. I was the leader of the group. I should have made sure everyone was safe. It was my responsibility and now…

Now I live my life on a day to day basis.

**THE END**

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><p><strong>AN: Love? Hate? Please review. It makes me SO happy when I get reviews. Also, I hope you all enjoyed this last chapter. I know I had fun writing this. And don't worry there is a sequel ;) But it still in the planning phase.<strong>


	27. AN:Announcement & Sequel Sneak Peek

Hello readers, Starphire27 here.

I just wanted to say, there is a reason for the way it ended. There is a **sequel** in the works. Don't get upset. Have faith. I don't want to spoil anything for you all just yet. so I'll leave you all with a snippet. The paragraph of the first chapter of the next story... hopefully you all see what I'm going for here and who these two characters are.

So please...enjoy

_Warning: Possible spoiler Alert!_

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><p><strong>A Chapter One Snippet<strong>

The sky was dark and only the moon shown through the clouds that painted the night sky. The silence washed over a warehouse district where not even the crickets made a sound. Lights illuminated the street with an eerie glow. A young man walked casually down the street as a car burst into flame behind him. He wore black from head to toe. It was a nice expensive suit as well as a pair of sunglasses. His brown hair scooped to the side as if he didn't even try to comb it. He held hands with a black haired young girl. She was also in black, a skin tight cat suit. She wore a silver mask and held a black rose in her hand. The young man held a red rose. As the departed the scene they tossed the roses behind them towards the flaming car. The roses landed only feet away from the fire and were spared from the flame's wrath.

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><p>I hope this is a big enough hint to not completely ruin the surprise for the next story<p> 


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